Restless Nights and Tired Mornings
by Histoirian
Summary: Leading a double life can be tricky. Marinette has been dealing with Akuma attacks all week, leaving her no time but the middle of the night to finish her work. Adrian has of course been just as busy, leading both of them to get stuck in a bit of a tight situation when their schedules get the best of them. Guess they'll be spending a bit more time together than they were expecting.
1. Chapter 1

The city of Paris was covered in sunlight from the sunrise, the beginning of a beautiful day. Parisians would soon be out for walks along the Seine, picnics in the park, and overall enjoying the wonderful weather. One small girl in particular was getting a head start on this lovely day. Marinette sat huddled in her room, the red light from the sunrise coming in though her window and onto her bed, while she sat focused over her design book. She was trying to finish a design she had been working on all week, but never quite had the time to finish. That was because it had been quite the hectic week for Ladybug, with Akumitized villains popping up all over. This had left her zero time for anything other than fighting crime and finishing her homework, if she had wanted to get any time to sleep that is. But, she knew she needed to finish this design, and so sleep she did not. Mr. Agreste, Adrian's father, was hosting a design contest later that week, and she needed to win it. She had won the contest previous, with her hat design, and so the pressure was on for Marinette to hold onto her title and win this one as well. The most important reason that she had to win, however, was that Adrian would again be wearing the winning design at his father's fashion show later that month, so Adrian would yet again be wearing _her_ designs if Marinette was able to win this contest. Plus, she would get a free ticket to the show, and get to actually see her designs in action (plus, have some alone time with Adrian!) So, Marinette had to get these designs done, hence why she was up so early trying to get them done. In fact, she was only up early because she hadn't actually gone to sleep at all. She had been up fighting off yet another of Hawkmoth's villains last night, leaving no time for her to sleep between that and her design due date that morning before class.

"Oh Marinette," said Tikki, waking up to see the tired look in Marinette's eyes, "you really need to take a break and get some sleep! There's a lot of pressure on you, I know, but you won't be in any shape to do any of it if you don't take care of yourself first!"

"I know Tikki, I know," replied Marinette, "after this crazy week is over and the designs are in, _then_ I can take a break, but you know how important this design contest is!"

"Yes, but will any of that matter if you aren't awake to see it?"

"I can handle it Tikki. If I can scale rooftops and fight off crime, I can take a couple of nights without proper sleep." Marinette yawned her way through the last of that sentence, leaving her little Kwami extremely unconvinced. "Either way, I'm done now, take a look!"

Marinette held up her suit design to Tikki, who gasped in awe. "Marinette, it's beautiful! You'll definitely win, I'm so sure of it! And won't Adrian look so dapper in that suit?" Marinette had designed the most gorgeous of suit jackets for Adrian, with a matching vest and pants. There was no doubt about it, it was amazing.

"I hope you're right Tikki," Marinette replied.

She then looked at the clock only to realize the time. "Oh no! I'm going to be late!" Marinette grabbed her school bag off of her desk chair and ran down the stairs, grabbing Tikki quickly into her clutch as she went, and managing a quick "Bye Mum, bye Dad!" before she grabbed a croissant off of the plate on the counter and ran out the door. She could hear the faint sound of her parents laughing at their daughter's constant tardiness as she went, with no time left to even roll her eyes at them.

Marinette ran all the way to school that morning, and was almost at the there, barely looking where she was going, when she ran straight into another student, who was running from the opposite direction. The two collided, spraying the contents of their book bags everywhere.

"Ow!" the student said.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry," Marinette sputtered as she started to clean up the mess of papers and books from the sidewalk, "I am such a klutz I didn't mean t-" Marinette cut herself off as she looked up and finally took in who she had bumped into. "ADRIAN! Oh hi-hi there fancy meeting you here-you're so pretty-I mean I'm so sorry-I mean what are you doing here!?"

"Uh.. hi Marinette, it's okay, honest, not a big deal." Adrian replied as he helped her clean up the papers surrounding them. Marinette couldn't help but notice how Adrian looked just as tired as she was feeling.

"R-rough night?" Marinette queried, barely managing to get the words out through her embarrassment.

"Huh? What do you mean? Why would it have been rough?" Adrian replied, maybe just a bit too quickly. Of course, he had in fact had a rough night, but not for any reason he could explain.

"Oh I didn't mean anything by it, sorry," Marinette squeaked, "I didn't mean to pry. It's just you're running late, I mean so am I, but I just figured that you'd woken up late or something. Not that you look bad or anything! I just assumed that you didn't get a lot of sleep or whatev-" Adrian's laughing cut Marinette off, leaving her panicked with her mouth gaping like a large fish.

"Yea, it was a rough night, actually. I didn't sleep well on account of… uh... my... dad's fashion show! Right. It gets hectic right around now. So I had to stay up late finishing my homework! I just haven't gad any other time." Adrian thought that would cover his tracks. He couldn't reveal why he had actually not been able to sleep that night; that would require admitting that he was Chat Noir, and of course, he couldn't do that. "What about you?" Adrian then asked, "Why are you so late this morning?"

"Uh, I also didn't get much sleep. Same reason! Well no, not same reason because I'm not a model of course…" Marinette awkwardly laughed, "but kind of? I was up all night working on my designs for your dad's contest!" It wasn't a total lie; it's true she hadn't gotten any sleep because she had been working on her designs, but she knew that wasn't really what was to blame. After all, she wouldn't have needed to stay up working on her designs if she hadn't been so preoccupied with the Akuma attacks all last week.

"Wow! I'm so happy that you're submitting something, I'm sure it's amazing," Adrian said honestly. He couldn't help but remember the last design of hers he had gotten to model, and the amazing craftsmanship that she had put into that design. "But, no feathers this time, right?"

Marinette let out a snort at this, remembering what had happened with her design last time.

"No no no, I learn from my mistakes, I swear! You're allergic to feathers, I know that… now anyway," she added. She also remembered how weird that had been, learning in one day that both Adrian and Chat Noir were allergic to feathers. Funny coincidence.

"Well, I'll be really grateful for that when I'm wearing it down the runway," Adrian said with a smile in Marinette's direction. This caused her to blush uncontrollably, and almost drop all of the books and papers she had just finished clearing up. The vote of confidence from the boy she loved uncontrollably was almost too much for her to bear. "Wait, aren't those designs due today? Like, right now?" Adrian asked.

"Ah! Oh my god! You're right!" Marinette gasped, taking off in the direction of their homeroom class. Adrian looked on at Marinette, shaking his head, laughing. She was quite something, that Marinette. Always a source of amusement, that was for sure. He only then realized that he was also late to class, and took off running right behind her.

"Alright, anyone have any last designs to add to the competition before we close it off?" Miss Bustier asked her class that morning. "Going once… going twice…"

"I DO!" Marinette yelled as she burst through the classroom door, her designs up in the air triumphantly as she went, almost being thrown out of her hands as she tripped on her way in. The class went dead silent and everyone looked in Marinette's direction. She cleared her throat, regained her composure, and repeated: "Uh I mean... Yes, yes I do." Marinette walked over to the pile of designs on Miss Bustier's desk and placed hers on the top.

"Ah Miss Cheng, how nice of you to join us. Well, I'm at least glad you have something to contribute." Marinette stood awkwardly smiling at her teacher. "Please… Marinette, take your seat." Marinette laughed, embarrassed, and went to go take her place beside her best friend Alya. Alya was covering her mouth with her hands, stifling a laugh at her friend's remarkable entrance. She was used to Marinette's tardiness at this point, and knew to expect the strangest of excuses for her latest escapade. Alya didn't know whether or not to believe any of these unusual answers she received, but she didn't have any better explanations for her friend's strange disappearances, so she trusted the little information she got. Just as Marinette was almost at her seat, the classroom door flew open yet again, this time, sporting an out of breath Adrian.

All eyes were then on him, as he sputtered an awkward, "uh, sorry for being late Miss," and went to take his seat in front of Marinette.

"Why is it," Miss Bustier pondered exasperated as Adrian and Marinette fumbled to get settled, "that you two can never manage to be on time to any of my classes? That's the third time this week that you two have wandered into my class tardy, and I know I'm not the only one of your teachers to notice this. That, and all of the absences! What in heaven's name is the issue?"

"Really, I'm truly sorry Miss Bustier," Adrian stammered, knowing that he couldn't do much more than apologize. After all, it's not like he had a good excuse for any of it.

"Yes Miss, me as well," Marinette added, also unable to come up with a viable excuse for her tardiness.

"Well, I'm not sure if I believe that, either of you. Being apologetic means actually doing something to change your actions, and I'm not so sure that you two plan on doing that anytime soon. For that reason, I know something has to be done before any progress will be made. Both of you, detention. After school, 4pm."

"WHAT?!" Adrian and Marinette yelled in unison.

"But Miss you don't understand-" Adrian pleaded.

"I really am sorry Miss, truly! I can't afford-" Marinette interjected overtop of him.

"Quiet both of you!" The two students silenced along with the rest of the class, who were looking on in awe at the events unfolding in front of them. "I really am sorry to have to do this," Miss Bustier continued, "but you two need to learn that punctuality matters! You'll thank me one day, I promise you."

Marinette and Adrian slid down in their seats, distraught over the outcome of that morning. It really wasn't their fault, but of course, nobody would ever know that but them.

"So…" Alya inquired as the lesson began, "What was it this time? Dog ate your homework? Great grandmother stole your bookbag?" Marinette glared at her friend.

"Don't even ask," she whined, not even bothering answer. She was in no mood to deal with any of this, as all of her attention was going towards keeping her eyelids from shutting permanently.

"You know," Nino prodded at his best friend Adrian, "Miss Bustier isn't wrong. Why is it that you and Marinette are always late at the same time?"

"Okay that's not even true," Adrian replied. But as he said it, he started to realize that it _was_ true. He and Marinette seemed to always be late on the same days. Weird.

"Oh, is and you know it," Nino answered. "Come on, have you two started secretly dating or something and not told anyone?"

"WHAT?" Marinette interjected at the loudest whisper possible, "Of course not what would make you think that I would even like Adrian like that? We're just friends! With similar schedules! That's it!"

 _"Real smooth Marinette,_ " she thought, sliding back into her seat, embarrassed, and tried to focus on the lesson at hand.

Adrian, however, couldn't help but get a little taken aback by her outburst. He had always known that Marinette acted a bit awkwardly around him, but he didn't think it was because she disliked him _that_ much. He had always just assumed it was because he was a famous model and she was a fan of his father's. It made sense given her love of design. " _I'm not that repulsive,"_ he thought, " _she doesn't need to be THAT pushy about our lack of a relationship._ "

Marinette also couldn't help but think further about her comment. It wasn't even true. Of course for the obvious reason, but also because Adrian's schedule could never be similar to hers. Nobody's schedule quite resembled Marinette's. " _Except maybe Chat Noir's,"_ Marinette thought. She tossed away the idea as soon as it entered her head. She was sure Chat Noir didn't have to deal with any of this annoying school stuff; he was probably some rich aristocrat in his other life, not having to trifle with such silly simplicities as Math or French. That would explain his cocky attitude and suave behaviour. Whatever. Who cared what Chat Noir did in his spare time, she knew it couldn't be _anything_ like what Adrian was dealing with.

Nino and Alya shared a look over their peculiar friends. Who knew what was going on there, but Alya was certain that if anything had progressed on the Adrian front that she would have been the first to know. Marinette wouldn't have been able to shut up about it.

The rest of the day continued on as usual, with no Akuma attacks to be seen, leaving both Adrian and Marinette grateful for one small morsel of luck in a very unlucky week. However, soon enough, 4 o'clock rolled around, and while all of their classmates were packing up to go home, Adrian and Marinette were not so fortunate.

"Text me when you get home, I want to hear aaaaall about how it goes!" Alya sing-songed.

"What do you mean how it goes?" Marinette moaned, "It's detention! How much more painful could that be?"

"You dummy! Yes, it's detention, but it's detention with Adrian! You'll be locked in a room together for the next hour and a half!"

Marinette finally put together the pieces of this situation, and she started to realize that maybe having detention wasn't actually too bad a thing. Not too bad at all.


	2. Chapter 2

Marinette sat down at her desk, a little more excited than before at the prospect of spending one and a half hours more than necessary stuck at school, forced to be in detention. This was because Alya had reminded her that this was one and a half hours of detention _with Adrian_ , and Marinette didn't mind the sound of that. Adrian made his way into the classroom slightly after her, taking his seat in front of Marinette.

Adrian turned around to look at Marinette and said: "This is pretty annoying huh? I'm sure you have much better things to be doing with your Friday night than spending it stuck in detention."

"Me? Oh I don't know, it's not _so_ bad. There are worse things right? Like getting eaten by a lion or getting stuck babysitting. Or you know. Whatever." Marinette was internally kicking herself. Why could she not say logical things around this boy?!

"Uh... right. Guess that's true enough," Adrian said as he turned himself back around.

" _Nice one. Good going Marinette,"_ she chastised herself in her mind. " _Great start."_

Just as she was about to try to make up for this complete failure of a conversation starter, Miss Bustier entered. She took a look at the two of them, and then leaned against the front of her desk to address them.

"Marinette, Adrian, glad to see that you both decided to grace me with your presence, on time at that. Now let's see if we can keep this up shall we? Since you two seem to always have something better to do than be punctual, I figured we might spend this time learning how to organize and prioritize!" With that, Miss Bustier gave the two students a planner each, and some lined paper along with it. "After you've finished scheduling out your week, you'll each write three pages singled spaced explaining how this should improve your punctuality! I look forward to hearing what has kept you two so enraptured."

Marinette and Adrian looked down at these planners, dumbfounded. How on earth were they to explain what kept them so busy? The bakery and the fashion industry only went so far as excuses. Just as Adrian was about to raise his hand and come up with some way out of this, the P.A. system buzzed.

" _Uhh Miss Bustier, you have a telephone call line one."_

Miss Bustier went to the grated speaker on the wall and pressed the intercom. "Thank you Linette," she replied, "I'll be down there in a moment." She returned her attention to her two students, waiting patiently for further instructions, using any excuse they could not to start this overwhelming assignment. "Now you two, I expect you will behave while I'm gone? I won't be out long. Get working on those planners, I expect some real progress by the time I get back." With that, she left the room, her heels click-clacking on her way down the hall, getting quieter and quieter until eventually the only sound that could be heard was the buzzing of the florescent lights above Marinette and Adrian's heads, and the faint sound of their breath as they both sat there, unable to begin.

"So…" Adrian said, "Ever made a schedule before?"

"Uh, of course not!" Marinette replied, thinking back to her Adrian schedule hanging from her ceiling. " _I mean I've never written down my OWN schedule anyway. Copying down yours doesn't really count. Right?"_ "Never really bothered making a schedule," she said out loud.

Adrian laughed at that, stunning Marinette a little. "Yea, quite a pair we are, aren't we? Maybe this actually isn't such a bad idea. A little scheduling probably wouldn't hurt either of us."

Marinette also chuckled at that thought. Maybe she _would_ benefit from a bit of a schedule. At that, Adrian collected his things and set them down beside Marinette, where Alya would normally sit.

"What are you doing?" Marinette asked, a little flustered.

"Well I know you said you'd never done this before, but you still seem like you'd be good at it. I'm sitting beside you so I can get some help. That is, if you'd be willing to give me any." Marinette stared at Adrian, blinking her eyes, unable to answer him for a couple of seconds. "Is that a yes or…?"

"Yes, of course! I mean, yea, sure, whatever, totally cool." " _Smooth,"_ she thought, " _Real smooth."_ With that, Adrian slipped out of his seat and moved up next to Marinette, causing her to catch her breath a little. " _This definitely would not be too bad_ ," she mused.

Adrian was thinking something along the same lines. After that remark from Marinette today about the whole relationship thing, he couldn't help but try to figure her out. She was a strange one, always a little nervous around him, but never overbearing. He found it endearing. With most of the people in his life, it always felt like they wanted something from him, but not Marinette. She was genuine. A good friend, that's for sure. In a strange way, she reminded him a bit of Ladybug. They were nothing alike really, with Ladybug being daring and elegant while Marinette was nervous and kind of a klutz, but they both had that leadership air about them. He felt calmer whenever he was around either of them, in a strange way, like they knew what they were doing and he didn't have to worry. He knew this was a bit silly of course, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to be friends with Marinette just as much as he wanted to be _with_ Ladybug. He also couldn't help but think how Ladybug and Marinette would be good friends if they ever got the chance. Wouldn't that be a pair.

"So," Adrian started, trying to make conversation, "any chance I could get a sneak peak at those designs I'll be wearing on the runway this month?"

Marinette turned away from him when he said this, to hide the blush that was crawling up her neck. "You know, it's possible that you won't ever see them. It's very possible that I might not win!"

"Ha!" Adrian interjected, "like that could happen. I've seen your designs before remember? I know you're talented." With that, Marinette turned a deep red that she could no longer hide, making Adrian beam with pride. He liked that he could make her blush, and he wasn't quite sure why. Friends make each other blush with compliments, right? That must be normal. Adrian had to admit, he wouldn't exactly know; he didn't have a lot of friends. The perks of being homeschooled. Not.

"Well, t-thanks. That's very sweet of you to say. Or think. Or think and said I guess." Marinette hated how much she rambled around Adrian. Would she never be able to speak to the boy normally? God, she could fight villains all day and night and STILL manage to get her homework done with nobody the wiser, but she couldn't manage to talk to one silly boy. Pathetic.

"Well I wouldn't say it if it weren't true. So, you never answered my question. Can I see them or what?"

"Uh, yea, sure, as long as it wouldn't be a conflict of interest for the contest or anything?"

"No, it couldn't be, I don't get any say in who wins these contests my dad holds. He's the expert after all, I'm just the model."

"Well okay then." Marinette went into her backpack to dig out her designs, tucking her hair behind her ear so it wouldn't fall into her face.

"Nice earrings," Adrian said as he noticed the two black dots in either of her ears. He didn't quite know why he said it really, they weren't anything special, but for some reason, they stood out to him. Maybe it was the way they matched her hair? Either way, special or not, he liked them on her.

"What?!" Marinette bolted up at this, designs in one hand, and her other hand covering the ear closest to Adrian. These were her _Ladybug_ earing after all. Why would he notice these?

"I said nice earrings, they're very pretty." Adrian replied, taking the designs out of Marinette's hand while she was frozen, petrified by his comment.

"Oh uh thanks. They were… a gift. Wait no don't just look at anything in ther-"

"Hey, these are all really good," Adrian said, while flipping through her design book, "You really have a talent for – wait, is that Chat Noir?"

"NO! Of course not, why would I have drawing of Chat Noir in my book? That's ridiculous," Marinette said as she tried desperately to get ahold of her design book again, but Adrian was having none of it.

"Yes, it is! It's definitely him! Wow… it looks just like him."

" _Just like me,"_ Adrian thought. She had gotten everything exactly right, from the way his suit folded to they way his ears sat on his head. How would she know any of this?

"Uh yea, you know, he comes up a lot on Alya's Ladyblog, and I have to look at that obviously to support Alya so I've seen him a lot, that's all, okay?" Marinette continued to try to grab at her design book, to no avail.

"No way would that be enough. Alya has never gotten close enough to him on the blog."

" _I'd know_ ," he thought to himself.

"Um, okay well obviously she did because how else would I be able to draw this huh? Now give it back."

" _Good question,"_ Adrian pondered, still holding onto Marinette's book. "Now here! This is what I was looking for. At least I hope so. Please tell me you submitted this suit to the contest."

Marinette looked down to the open page to see the suit that Adrian was referring to. It was in fact the one she had submitted. Looking at Adrian holding her designs, it felt all the more real, and all the more right. This suit was designed just for him after all, and seeing his face looking down at it, she could imagine him in this suit so vividly. She looked back and forth, from Adrian to her design, but then her eyes caught on the drawing on the other page, beside the suit. That drawing of Chat Noir. She couldn't help but think that Adrian wouldn't look half bad in that suit either. Marinette giggled to herself at that thought. But no, Adrian was way better than Chat Noir, that she knew for a fact, and would look way better in that suit on his dad's runway than Chat Noir would look any day. This tailored suit was definitely meant for Adrian, and no one else. She really hoped that it would be the winning design; it meant more to her now that Adrian had seen it, and the fact that he liked it made her realize just how much she needed Adrian to have this suit, regardless of whether it won the contest.

"Yea," Marinette eventually replied, "that's the one."

"If this doesn't win I will talk to my father personally and complain, I swear."

"Oh my gosh you need to stop it. You're getting my hopes up far too much."

"Well you should feel confident! If I had your talent, I definitely would." Marinette scoffed at this.

"You do have talent! I've seen your photoshoots; I would never be able to model like that."

"Yea, whatever," Adrian replied half-heartedly, "modeling's not that hard; you just kind of stand there and do whatever the photographer says. Following direction, that's all it is."

"Yea, easier said than done," replied Marinette.

"Why am I not surprised that Marinette Dupain-Cheng has difficulty following orders?"

 _"Wait. That was teasing,"_ Marinette panicked internally, _"he was definitely teasing me. Should I tease back? Is he… flirting with me?"_ Just as Marinette was about to say a reply, Miss Bustier entered back into the classroom.

"Being productive I take it?" she asked the two, noticing the somewhat filled in planners and very empty essay pages. She sighed. "Well, it's just about time for you two to head home, so I expect those essays on my desk first thing Monday morning, understood?"

"Yes, of course Miss Bustier," Adrian replied, as he leaped to his feet, collecting his things from his desk.

" _So close, and yet so far,"_ Marinette thought, collecting her own things. She couldn't think clearly, their conversation reeling through her head as she tried to process everything that had happened.

"Goodnight you two, stay out of trouble." Miss Bustier called as Marinette exited the classroom, with Adrian at her heels.

" _Trouble seems to follow me, Miss,"_ Marinette thought to herself, sighing at the concept. How much easier would it be if she didn't have to deal with anymore trouble. Oh well, such the price for being Ladybug.

"So," Adrian asked, stopping before he reached the town car ready to take him home, "any big plans for tonight?"

"Uh, why do you ask?" Marinette replied, her heart pounding in anticipation.

"No reason, just curious," Adrian answered.

" _Rats,"_ thought Marinette. "Um, well, no, not really, probably going to get cracking on this essay."

"Oh, yea, me too." Did he sound… disappointed? "Okay, well, goodnight."

"Goodnight Adrian," Marinette said, more to herself than to her peer, as he climbed into the car. His father's assistant, Natalie, was waiting inside, probably with a stern lecture for him given his coming from detention and all. Marinette watched the car pull away, seeing the tail lights pull around the corner in the opposite direction before she turned around and headed towards her own home.

The doors to her parents' bakery chimed as Marinette walked through them, taking her into the cool storefront that had obviously closed for the day. Marinette ran up the stairs into her family's cozy two-bedroom home above their bakery, smelling her dinner all the way up.

"Mum, Dad, I'm home!" Marinette called as she continued the run up to her attic bedroom, slinging her bag onto her chair, and changing into something a bit more comfortable as she was up there. She knew that as soon as her parents got a word in with her about why she was so late coming home, there would be no leaving the house for Marinette. She wandered back downstairs to see her parents waiting her her in their small living room.

"Marinette," her father started, looking displeased.

" _Uh oh, here it comes,_ " Marinette thought, looking on at her parents in fear.

"Why is it," her father continued, "that you had detention today?"

Marinette sighed and collapsed into the couch, explaining the whole situation to her parents. Or rather, as much of the situation as she could without revealing her double life. Even her parents couldn't know about that.

"Oh honey, I swear, you'd be late to your own funeral," Marinette's mother chimed in, more amused than angry, "Let's get you a good alarm clock and get better at making it to school on time next week, shall we?

"Yes Mum," replied Marinette, grateful for her loving parents, and how understanding they were with her.

" _I don't know what I would do without them_ ," she thought, " _I definitely wouldn't be able to be a super hero, that's for certain_." She snuggled down into the couch, between her parents, and sat watching the television as they ate their dinner of rice, chicken, and steamed broccoli.

However, back at the Agreste household, Adrian's father was slightly less involved. In fact, he didn't even acknowledge his son's late arrival home from school. Adrian had simply gotten a vague warning from his father's assistant in the car, and wandered up to his room like usual, with only Plagg to keep him company, and a lonely dinner of one to look forward to when his father wouldn't make it on time. His father was rarely around, only making appearances to further shelter him and make his life miserable, so really, Adrian was grateful not to see him this evening. Still, he couldn't help feeling alone, even with his buddy to keep him company.

"What are we doing tonight then?" Plagg asked, flying out from underneath Adrian's shirt the minute they got into the privacy of his bedroom. "Video games and camembert? Because that sounds like a plan if I've ever heard one." With that, Adrian realized that he definitely didn't want to stay in that evening.

"I had something else in mind," Adrian replied, a plan forming in his mind. It's true, Adrian didn't have a lot of freedom, but Chat Noir certainly did, and it's not like his father or Natalie would come up to check on him anyway. "Come on Plagg, let's do some exploring. I know of a certain bug I would love to pay a visit."


	3. Chapter 3

Marinette was tucked into her bed, fast asleep, when Tikki shook her awake.

"Marinette! Marinette, wake up!"

Marinette groaned and put her pillow over her head, refusing to listen to her small ladybug friend.

"Marinette, seriously, I think it might be urgent!"

"Tikki," Marinette grumbled through her pillow, "what is so important that it couldn't wait until morning? You said it yourself earlier, I need to rest up."

"But Marinette, it's Chat Noir. I can tell that he's trying to reach you, why would he do that if there wasn't an emergency?"

With that, Marinette shot up in her bed, immediately waking up. "Trouble? Tikki, transformez-moi!" in an instant, Marinette was now Ladybug, clad in her red suit and jumping out her window, running across the rooftops of Paris while trying desperately to get in touch with Chat Noir. Eventually, he finally picked up the video chat.

"Chat Noir!"

"My lady! How are you this fine evening?"

This made Ladybug stop in her tracks. It certainly didn't sound like there was a battle or an akumitized villain anywhere around him.

"Chat Noir, what's the matter?"

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"What I mean," Ladybug replied, exasperated, "is that I got a message from you, and I assumed there was some grave emergency that you needed my help with, so I transformed as quickly as I could to come help you. So, given that our superpowers are for saving the city of Paris from evil and harm, I can only guess that there must be some villain for us to fight?"

Chat Noir stared back blankly until finally sputtering out "I mean I thought we had patrol tonight and I was wondering where you were. It's Friday, no?"

Ladybug immediately remembered that in fact, it was Friday, and they normally had patrol late Friday night, every Friday night. "Oh god, I'm sorry chat, I totally spaced. It's been a long week; I had just assumed that we wouldn't go on patrol tonight after everything that happened."

Chat's face immediately dropped, obviously disappointed. "I mean if you're tired my lady, I wouldn't want to keep you out. A princess needs her rest after all."

Ladybug could tell that he was trying to be his cocky and charming self, and so she gave him an eye roll for good measure, but she couldn't help but notice how genuinely sad he looked at the prospect of missing patrol. Maybe this is what he needed to deal with the hard week they'd both had: some noncommittal patrol time with a friend, goofing off over the city streets of Paris. She sighed, realizing that she couldn't say no to that face, no matter how many puns she would have to endure that evening.

"No no, it's fine, crime never rests, after all," Ladybug replied, and she watched as immediately Chat's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Great! I'll meet you in two minutes at the top of the Eiffel tower!" Chat exclaimed.

"No, wait, aren't we patrolling the-" But Ladybug was cut off as Chat hung up the video call, leaving her no choice but to meet her feline companion at the tip of the Eiffel tower. "Great," she said out loud to herself, "I can already tell there isn't going to be a lot of patrolling happening tonight." And yet, she wasn't all that disappointed herself. Tikki was right, she deserved a break, and what a better way than some quality time with her partner in crime, or rather, in crime fighting.

Chat Noir sat perched on the viewing gallery of the Eiffel Tower, looking over the city of Paris, when he was startled by a voice over his shoulder.

"Isn't Paris beautiful at night?" Ladybug stated more observationally than as a question. Chat Noir, not expecting her to be there, jumped at the sound of her voice, and just about fell over the side of the railing. He would have too, if Ladybug hadn't grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him back up, saving him, as per usual.

"Sorry about that cheri," Chat replied as suavely as one can after almost dying, "I can't help but fall for you every time I see you." Ladybug rolled her eyes and scoffed at this remark, as she settled herself down beside Chat on his perch.

"Really though, isn't it lovely?" Ladybug asked again, this time with a bit more sincerity. However, Chat Noir couldn't focus on Paris, despite the obvious beauty it held, especially at this height. Instead, all of his attention was on Ladybug, and the way her hair rustled in the night wind, and how the lights from the Eiffel tower hit her stormy blue eyes, bringing them to life.

"Beautiful, more like it," he replied, still staring intently at Ladybug.

"Sometimes, I wonder," Ladybug started, her eyes still gazing over the city she had somehow come to protect.

"Wonder what?" Chat replied, eyes still focused on Ladybug. He started to study the curves of her neck, and how they moved seamlessly into her jaw, and from her jaw to her round button chin. He had spent countless hours memorizing the lines of her face, but he couldn't help but blatantly stare now, with the light of the moonlight lighting her silhouette perfectly.

"I wonder, what would life be like if I weren't Ladybug, and you weren't Chat Noir? Would I be asleep in bed right now?"

"Would we still know each other?" Chat asked back, and attentively waited for the answer, honestly curious as to her answer.

"I suppose we'll never know," Ladybug replied, her eyebrows furrowing, like she was contemplating the scenario for the 1000th time in her head, still with no answers, only more questions.

"I mean," Chat started nervously, "we could know each other, you know."

"Of course we know each other. We fight side by side every night mon petit chat," Ladybug replied, finally tearing her eyes away from the Parisian skyline only to punch her friend playfully on the shoulder.

"You know what I mean," he replied, almost forcing Ladybug with sheer force of will alone to look him in the eyes and see what he was feeling.

"Chat, you know we can't tell each other our true identities, it wouldn't be-"

"Wouldn't be safe I know I know, and I'm not saying we do. I'm just saying, we could know each other. Without the masks." The two superheroes looked at each other watchfully, trying to read the other's mind and figure out what they were thinking. Was it possible? That they actually knew each other in the light of day? That they'd interacted without the charade but didn't know it?

"What difference would it make?" said Ladybug, finally breaking the silence that had enveloped the darkness between them, moving her eyes off of Chat and back to the city. She looked as though she were patrolling for danger, but seemed too distracted to be doing so in any meaningful way.

"I don't know, I never said it did make a difference," he replied, obviously slightly disappointed, but with a shadow of hope underneath. "All I was trying to say is that we could be friends in real life, without the costumes, so really it would make no difference, if I weren't Chat Noir and you weren't Ladybug. I'm sure we would've found each other, somehow." Chat paused, awkwardly, his emotional side a little to close to the surface for his comfort. He added for good measure: "we're too good of a team for that not to be the case. The best of friends." Chat groaned internally at that last part.

 _"The best of friends, yea, because that's all you want. Stupid cat."_

This did cause Ladybug to look back over with a smile that made Chat's heart dance in his chest and leap up to his throat.

"Yea, you're right Chat. We would have found each other I'm sure." This remark gave Chat Noir more than just a glimmer of hope. Maybe she felt the same way, maybe she also wanted to get to know him, without the mask, maybe they could—

"Besides," Ladybug interrupted through his stream of consciousness, "even if we do know each other everyday, we probably don't have time to interact with each other anyway. I don't know about you, but my schedule is packed, as I've recently discovered, and I don't really have time for much these days." She chuckled as she said the last part of this, and Chat Noir looked on, stunned.

"What? What's the problem?" Ladybug asked, starting to become genuinely concerned, "Is there a spider behind me or something? What is it? Cat got your tongue?"

He still sat there, speechless.

"Oh come on, so you're allowed to make bad puns and I'm not? Just spit it out."

"Uh, n-n-nothing." Chat Noir stuttered out, shaking the thought from his mind. It was way too strange that he'd seen how similar Ladybug and Marinette were yet again; that was twice in one day. Maybe it was just because he spent more time with Marinette than usual, and gotten to see a side of her he normally wouldn't see, but god, the resemblance was uncanny in that very moment.

"Chat, I can tell it's not nothing, please, you can tell me anything, you know that."

At this thought, he froze again, taking in what she'd just said. He can tell her anything. It was true, he felt it too, he could trust her with anything and not have to fear. She was really his best friend, really one of the only friends he'd ever had, and he didn't want to ruin it by pushing her away. So what if he didn't know who she was beyond the mask? He didn't need to know. He had everything he needed, right here, with her, in this moment, and he couldn't be happier. With that thought, a huge smile wiped across his face that he couldn't control.

"Okay, now you're really starting to freak me out," Ladybug said, shaking her head at her friend who might just have lost it altogether, "what's the matter? Really?"

"Nothing," Chat said again, this time with confidence, "everything is just perfect as is."

"Ooooookay then, weirdo," Ladybug replied, grabbing her yoyo and hooking onto the lower bars of the tower. "Last one to the lookout spot we're _supposed_ to be at right now is a smelly cat!" she shouted as she took off flying into the night, a black cat grinning at her back. Finally, he shook himself out of his state and extended his baton out into the darkness, trying to catch up with the most miraculous girl he had ever met.


	4. Chapter 4

Marinette finally collapsed into her bed after a long night of patrol and turned to look at the clock on her nightstand. " _3:30 a.m._ " it stared back with a red glow. Yet, despite the long night of patrol, Marinette didn't feel at all exhausted. Maybe that was because patrol wasn't really quite the right word for it. Despite how much she tried to keep Chat on track last night, their patrol turned into a large game of chase over the streets of Paris, the two yo-yoing and bouncing over the rooftops, trying to catch each other, swinging around the old buildings. Frankly, it was the most fun Marinette had had in a long time; she hadn't ever realized just how much fun Chat Noir was to have around when they didn't have to worry about villains trying to take a swing at their heads and they could just be themselves. Or, as much of themselves as they were able to show through the masks.

Marinette laid back in her bed, and a smile crept across her face. Earlier that evening, while in the middle of their game of cat and mouse (or rather, cat and bug), Ladybug had swung around a building so quickly, trying to catch the end of Chat's tail, that she had swung full around the other superhero, tangling him in her yo-yo string, causing the both of them to crash onto the nearby roof of a candy shop. They had rolled across the rooftop, their limbs tangled around each other, as they tried desperately to stop the momentum from their fall from rolling the two off the building entirely.

Ladybug remembered finally stopping and being caught there, pinned under Chat's body, looking into his eyes, her heat pounding. She remembered not being able to tell if it was the exhilaration from the exercise causing her to hear her heart beating loudly in her ears, or something else entirely. Being that close and tangled around a person did things to a person's brain, she had eventually decided, and had let it go. But, she couldn't help but think back on that moment, over and over, and remember how Chat had seemed to take just a moment more than necessary to detangle himself from her and get up, his cheeks reddening as he did so. _"From the cold,"_ she thought to herself, unconvinced, _"or maybe from the exercise."_ But no matter how hard she tried, and how much she rationalized the encounter, she couldn't get the image of Chat Noir on top of her out of her head. She remembered the way his blonde hair had been so rustled from the ordeal, and how it had hung around his face as his emerald green eyes had stared into hers, like they were searching for something, making her catch her breath. She couldn't help but in that moment notice how Chat Noir was actually pretty attractive. " _I so have a thing for guys with blonde hair and green eyes,"_ she thought to herself, thinking back to Adrian, her real crush. As she did, her stomach immediately twisted up. Why had she been thinking about Chat Noir at all? Adrian was the one she really cared about; he was sweet, caring, smart, and polite, all things Chat would never be. She knew that if Adrian were to only give her the time of day, all thoughts of Chat would immediately fade from her vision and she would be the happiest girl in the world. But, Adrian never had seemed to notice her so far. The thought brought an ache to Marinette's heart. Why did she have to think about this all now? She knew thinking about her unrequited love for Adrian only hurt her, so she wiped the tears that had formed at the corners of her eyes away, and let her mind drift back to Chat. She knew that any teasing in her direction from her feline friend was only ever in fun, and that he didn't seriously like her in any romantic way, just as she didn't like him in that way, but she allowed herself to relive her moments in the sky with him as she nodded off to sleep anyway, thinking that a little harmless thought wouldn't change a thing.

Adrian woke up to the sunlight streaming through his blinds, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes to see that it was just past noon. He'd slept in an awful lot, but it was understandable given his late night. He pulled himself out of bed, and almost leaped when he remembered that he had fencing practice at 12:30, and that he was going to be late. He threw on some clothes, the first things he saw in his closet, and grabbed his gear to race out the door.

At fencing, Adrian couldn't keep his focus. He kept thinking back to his night with Ladybug, and how wonderful it had been. For what felt like the first time, he had finally seen Ladybug cut loose a little bit and have fun. Her laugh still echoed through his mind, and he knew he'd do anything he could to hear it again in person. He couldn't help himself; he was absolutely, 100 percent head over heels in love with Ladybug, especially after he saw what fun she was to be around. Sure, they'd always goofed off before, with witty banter between punches, and he loved to see her roll her eyes at his terrible puns (which he mostly made just to get a rise out of her), but those moments were nothing like the ones they'd had last night. They'd forgotten about work entirely and had been free to be themselves, and even though they were both wearing the masks, it was the closest that he'd felt to someone, ever. Nobody made him feel as free as Ladybug did, and he wanted to feel that way always. He was thinking about how amazing she looked when she was smiling at him when he felt himself get stabbed in the side – again.

"Adrian," said his sparring partner and fencing coach Armand D'argencourt, "that's the fifth round I've won in a row. Your head is not in the match. What's on your mind, boy?"

Adrian sighed and took off his helmet, sitting himself down on a nearby bench. "I'm sorry M. D'argencourt, I think I just need a break."

"Alright," he replied, eyeing Adrian warily, "10 minutes, then we'll continue with the lesson."

Adrian tossed his head back and groaned. How was he supposed to get anything done when all he could think of was Ladybug, and who she really was? He knew that he had said to himself that it didn't matter, and he was happy with everything just as it was, but it wasn't really true. He would never be truly satisfied until he knew who his love really was, behind the mask. He picked up his phone and started looking through his contacts, not quite sure what he was looking for – something to distract himself possibly. He was rolling through his contacts when he spotted Marinette's name, glowing on the screen.

" _Oh no,"_ he thought, remembering, _"I totally forgot about that stupid essay for Miss Bustier. Maybe Marinette and I can work on it together. Some company would help to keep my mind of Ladybug, and Marinette seems like just the person._ " He couldn't wrap his head around that girl, and a puzzle was just what he needed at the moment. More to the point, he had no idea how to even start that stupid essay for detention, and figured Marinette would know what to do. _"Two birds with one stone, am I right?_ " So he clicked on her name and starting typing up a message:

 _Hey, what are you up to today? – A_

He put his phone back in his bag, grabbed his water bottle, took a quick swig, and then put his helmet back on just as M. D' argencourt was coming back onto the court.

"Alright Monsieur Agreste, let's see if you can get a touch in against me now, shall we?"

Marinette woke up to the sound off her phone chiming, signalling that she'd gotten a text. Figuring that it was Alya, bugging her again for the details of her detention with Adrian, she had flailed at it with her hand, trying to silence it, but instead had hit it off of her end table. The sound of her phone hitting the floor was loud enough to shake Marinette slightly out of her slumber, and the sunlight enough to keep her from being able to nod back off. She peeled open one of her eyes to see the time, and realized just how late it was in the day. If she didn't get up soon, her parents would think she had come down with something, and she wouldn't be allowed to leave the house for a week. Marinette groaned, stretching in her bed for a minute, and reached her arm out of the covers, trying to feel around for her phone on the floor. Finally grabbing hold of it, she turned onto her back and looked through at the lock screen.

" _18 text messages from Alya_ " she read, not surprised, but her eyes caught on the most recent notification, saying that she had received one text message from none other than Adrian Agreste. Now fully awake, Marinette unlocked her phone to read the message, ignoring Alya all together. She read the message and the gears started to turn in her head, contemplating all of the different reasons he could have sent this. Knowing only one way to find out the answer for sure, Marinette started to compose a reply:

 _Not much, you? – M_

" _Is it too simple?_ " She thought to herself, " _Will it look like I don't actually care about the reply?_ " She erased what she had written and typed out:

 _Hi Adrian! Nothing at all, why? What are you up to? –M_

She immediately erased that, thinking that it looked far too needy. Also, she wanted to look a bit busier than "nothing." So, she instead settled on a simple:

 _Hey! Not a whole lot, why? – M_

She hit send before she could overanalyze this message too, letting out the breath that she'd been holding in without realizing. While she waited for a response, she looked at the messaged she'd missed from Alya from the night before and this morning. She had been far too exhausted to even bother eating dinner when she got home, let alone remember to text Alya the gossip, and had passed out on her bed within minutes of getting home, waking up only to answer Chat Noir's "distress" call, leaving no time to check her messages. She looked at the first one:

 _GIRL. How was detention? Was Miss Bustier hard on you? – Alya_

Then, she read the next one:

 _More importantly, did you talk to ADRIAN? – Alya_

Half an hour later than the first two, she had received another message saying:

 _Omg Marinette, where are you. You're killing me here –Alya_

She had then received several variants on the following message:

 _MARINETTE. REPLY TO YOUR MESSAGES. YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! – Alya_

These variations all included varying levels of distress and anguish, as well as some very creative use of emojis. Alya had finally given up for the night around 11:30pm, only to recommence in the morning with a single message at 9 am:

 _Please let me know when you come back to life. I wait patiently for your reply, and if I don't hear anything from you before 3pm I'll assume you've been murdered and call the police. Don't tempt me woman. – Alya_

Oops. Well, at least it was before three. She started to create a reply to her friend, explaining her absence and starting on her time in detention, and what Miss Bustier had assigned for them to do. She then moved onto discussing her conversations with Adrian, and everything he had said about her designs and how incredibly sweet and wonderful he had been. She was in so deep she couldn't even see the light of day anymore when it came to that boy. She finished off her monstrous paragraph by telling Alya how he had texted her today, and asking her to comment on what the heck it meant. She received a reply back in minutes.

 _Well first thing, Miss Bustier wasn't wrong in giving you that assignment. You could use a schedule. Just saying._ _Second, OMG TO ALL OF THAT?! What did you say back? He has to want to see you, there's no other reason for the text. Give me any updates as you get them! – Alya_

Just as Marinette was about to send a reply, her phone buzzed with a text from Adrian:

 _I was just wondering if you wanted to get together to work on that essay. I'm kinda lost to be honest. If you're busy I totally get it! – A_

Marinette didn't even think about her reply before hitting send.

 _Yes, I'd love to! When and where? – M_

On that note, Marinette pulled herself out of bed and started to get ready, knowing that she'd probably be out with Adrian soon enough, and wanted to look her best.

Adrian was in the locker room, showered and finished fencing when he got around to checking his phone again. He saw the response from Marinette and shot back a quick message suggesting his place in 15 minutes. He hoped into the town car and drove home, to then run quickly up to his room to try and make it somewhat presentable. Yes, the house had maids, but they generally stayed out of his personal belongings, only vacuuming and dusting around his things. He had just stuffed all of his scattered papers into a drawer when Natalie buzzed into his room, letting him know that he had a guest, with a slightly disapproving tone in her voice, both pf them knowing that he wasn't really to have guests over.

"Thanks Natalie, I'll be down in a sec," he replied, and rushed out the door to sneak Marinette in past his father, and Natalie, expecting to have to tell Natalie that Marinette was just here to drop off a book that he'd forgotten, only to sneak her in past Natalie, but surprisingly that wasn't necessary. Natalie wasn't hovering near the doorway; it was almost like she was turning a blind eye to his having Marinette over. He thought about how strange that was, because he knew that she would never do that with Nino, but he shrugged it off and went to let Marinette in, still keeping relatively quiet, knowing that his father would not be nearly as lenient as Natalie had been. He opened the door to see the sweet, nervous girl standing on his doorstep, with books in hand.

"Hi Adrian," she said with a nervous smile on her face.

"Hi Marinette! Come in, and don't worry about your shoes," he replied, closing the door behind her. "Thanks again for coming over, you have no idea how lost I was with this essay. If that isn't a sign that I'm not organized, I don't know what is," he said with a chuckle, and Marinette laughed along with him, her face blushing a bit as she did. Adrian couldn't help but feel like he'd heard that laugh before, and he thought about how beautiful it sounded. Weird, as he wouldn't normally call a laugh beautiful, but with Marinette, it just seemed to fit. It was like when Ladybug had laughed with him that past night; now she had a beautiful laugh.

 _"Stop it Adrian, this is supposed to get your mind off of Ladybug, not on it!_ " he thought to himself, and started to realize just how difficult a task forgetting about Ladybug would truly be. He tried to laugh all his thoughts off with Marinette as he led her up to his bedroom.

"Make yourself comfortable," he said as he sat down on his couch in the middle of his room, pulling out the paper and the planner Miss Bustier had given them in class and placing them on the coffee table.

"Thanks," said Marinette with a smile, as she sat herself down next to him, on the opposite side of the couch, keeping her distance in an attempt to try and keep her wits about her. One step at a time.

"How was your night?" Adrian asked, trying to make small talk as Marinette rummaged through her bag, looking for her notebook.

"Alright, I passed out basically as soon as I got home, I was so exhausted. What about you?"

"Um, yea, same thing," Adrian replied. Not entirely a lie. He had taken a quick cat nap before meeting Ladybug last night.

"So, this assignment," Marinette started, settling down to do the work she came here to do.

"Oh, yea, right, the essay," Adrian said back. He knew Marinette was always a bit nervous around him and he couldn't really place her head, but he was hoping that they might talk about more than just work while she was here; he truly wanted to get to know her and be her friend. Plus, he wasn't really used to people behaving the way she behaved around him, and really wanted to break down her walls. People just _liked_ Adrian, he'd never had a problem winning anyone over before, and he didn't like the thought of somebody as sweet as Marinette feeling so uncomfortable around him; it just didn't sit right with Adrian. The only other person who ever played hard ball with him was Ladybug, and that was just their relationship.

 _"I'm serious Adrian! Stop thinking about Ladybug!"_ He tried to shake all thoughts of her out of his head and get back in the moment.

Marinette and Adrian worked on their essays and planners for about an hour and a half, until they both heard Marinette's stomach growl so loudly Adrian swore it could've been heard next door, and Marinette turned beat red. They both started at each other, eyes locked, until Adrian burst into laughter, holding his stomach, he was laughing so hard. This caused Marinette to turn an even deeper shade of red, but the sound of Adrian's laughter and the look of pure, non malicious joy on his face was too infectious, and soon, Marinette was also doubled over in laughter, tears streaming down both of their faces, until eventually their laughter died down, and Adrian, out of breath, suggested that they get something to eat from the kitchen. Marinette more than happily accepted, and they got their food and brought it back up to Adrian's room, using the food as an excuse to take a well needed break. Eventually, Adrian broke the silence that was starting to form between them, trying to avoid an awkward moment.

"Hey," he started, putting down his mini cucumber sandwich the kitchen had prepared for them and looking up at Marinette, "can I ask you something?"

Marinette swallowed her bite funny and just about starting choking at that comment, not sure how to really reply. She managed to pull herself together before she did anything noticeably embarrassing and replied with a small, "Sure, what?"

"I was just wondering," he started, but immediately forgot his question as he looked into Marinette's eyes, seeing the bright blue eyes of Ladybug staring back at him, loosing his train of thought entirely. "I was just curious," he continued, in a new direction entirely, "what do you think of Ladybug?"

Marinette froze for a second, stunned. "I mean, what I'm asking," Adrian continued, noticing her silence, "is how much do you know about her? I know that Alya runs the Ladyblog is all, and I figured you'd know a fair deal about her. I was just curious if you'd have any additional insight into who she is? What she likes? I don't know, anything really…" Adrian trailed off awkwardly, noticing Marinette still silent, just short of having her mouth blatantly in an open gawk.

"Uh, ahem, well," Marinette stalled, not sure where to go. This was her big chance, the one thing she actually _did_ know about that she could use to converse with Adrian, and actually develop a friendship with him. However, it also risked her telling him too much, and blowing her cover. It was true, she could use Alya as an excuse, and say that her best friend told her tons of information, but would she be able to draw the line and keep it believable? Marinette was at a loss.

"I'm sorry, I really don't mean to make you uncomfortable," Adrian said with a blush forming on the back of his neck, truly embarrassed by how miserable he was at making conversation with this girl. He had thought this would be a safe topic of conversation. Guess not.

Marinette saw this and immediately her inhibitions melted away, and all she wanted to do was turn this around and make Adrian feel reassured. "No, not at all, I'm not uncomfortable, what would even make you say that?" Marinette chuckled nervously, obviously uncomfortable. Surprisingly, given her secretive line of work, she couldn't really pull off the whole acting thing in front of Adrian. "I'd be happy to tell you things about Ladybug, what would you like to know?"

Adrian smiled, finally feeling like he was wearing down her walls. "Well, let me see," he said, "well to start off, what do you think of her?" Adrian stared at Marinette expectantly.

"Well, I think she's pretty great. She seems so strong and fast, also good in a fight and at thinking on her feet! I'm glad Paris has her around," Marinette replied, thinking that was vague enough. "Plus, she manages to put up with Chat Noir everyday, and anybody that can do that is my everyday hero," she added in for good measure.

"What do you mean by that?" Adrian replied, slightly taken off guard.

"Oh you know all his cat puns and how highly he thinks of himself. Don't get me wrong, I think Ladybug needs him around, and that they're an amazing team, but anybody that listens to him all day must be a very special person." Too much? Maybe. Oh well, no taking it back now.

"I don't know, I like the puns. They add character!" Adrian interjected, fighting for his honour. Those were his puns after all, "And I'm sure Ladybug enjoys them too. Everyone likes a good old fashioned groaner every once in awhile."

"Yea, you keep telling yourself that," Marinette replied, rolling her eyes at Adrian. She caught herself, a bit taken aback. That was how she would react to Chat Noir, not Adrian. This whole conversation was confusing her brain. Further, the action didn't go unnoticed by Adrian either, who stared at Marinette, also confused by this puzzling enigma in front of him. The more he talked with her, the more he started to really like Marinette, and how he could never tell what she was going to do next.

"I don't know about you, but I have had enough essay writing for one day," Adrian looked at Marinette, checking for her response, "want to play some Ultimate Mecha Strike III? I know you'll kick my butt, but I'm prepared to learn a few things if you're willing to teach me."

Marinette looked back at Adrian and smiled, nodding her head and grabbing the controller Adrian had outstretched in her direction, "You sir, don't know what you just signed up for."

"Oh believe me, I'm well aware of that fact," he said back with a smile, agreeing that he'd never know what he signed up for with a friend like Marinette, but he was more than happy to go along for the ride until he did. _"And I will,"_ he thought, _"Someday Marinette, I will figure you out."_


	5. Chapter 5

That night, Marinette was over the moon. She had had the most wonderful evening with Adrian, playing video games for hours, not even realizing it was ten thirty until they had received a warning from Natalie over the intercom, signaling that she'd turned a blind eye for long enough and that it was time for Marinette to go. As she had packed up her things, the two of them had looked down at their incomplete essays with distaste. Adrian has stood quietly, watching as she had collected her half of the papers and put them into her bag. He had then led her down to his front foyer. Marinette had been leaving through the door when Adrian had grabbed her arm, causing her to turn around, shocked by the contact and the gesture. They stood there like that, for a couple of brief seconds, that had felt like an eternity to Marinette. Adrian had broken the silence finally, and said:

"There isn't any chance that you would want to get together tomorrow again, to finish those stupid essays? I promise I'll stay more on task. We could even meet at the library or something. No distractions." He had looked at Marinette with such a sheepish grin, a touch of nervousness behind it. There was no possible way that Marinette could have said no to it, even if she had wanted to.

"Okay, meet at the library at 10? That way if you do manage to get distracted we still have plenty of time to finish."

Adrian had looked back at Marinette, chuckled, and replied, "Wow, you can read me well, can't you?"

Marinette had looked straight into his eyes, smiled, and said, "Like an open book."

Marinette thought back to this moment again and hid her face into her pillow, smiling ridiculously into it, as she tried to shake her giddiness so that she could get to sleep and be well rested to make it to the library the next morning. Yet, despite how hard she tried, Marinette couldn't get to sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about how she had managed an entire evening with Adrian without stuttering once, and how amazing it had felt. Her sleep schedule must have been warped from her odd week of fighting Akumas, because she knew there as no way she was going to get to sleep anytime soon. So, Marinette decided to go for a late night swing around the city to try and burn off some of her energy.

She placed some pillows under her sheets and transformed into Ladybug, setting off into the night, doing a sort of patrol, but mostly just tiring herself out. She swung around the streets of Paris, looking at the streets below her, and taking in the moonlit buildings around her. She had always thought that Paris was a beautiful city, especially from above. Eventually, absolutely exhausted, Ladybug sat down on the rooftop of a nearby building, and stared out into the city. In that moment, she remembered her patrol the night previous with Chat Noir, and felt a bit lonely being here without him; it just didn't feel the same. She didn't know if it was the moonlight getting to her head, or the fondness of having spent the day with Adrian, but Ladybug was in such a good mood and wanted to share this moment with someone. Of course it couldn't be Alya this late in the evening, so she decided to try and get Chat Noir's attention.

" _If he answers, okay, but if not, no big deal, right?_ " she thought to herself, pulling out her yo-yo to give Chat a call, " _at least I can say that I tried_." After just a couple of rings, Chat picked up. The screen was dark, but Ladybug could see flashes of Chat's face in the moonlight, and the wind whipping past his camera; he was obviously running somewhere.

"Uh, bad time?" Ladybug said, watching her feline companion almost trip over a crack in the road.

"Not at all! I just saw you calling and immediately set a course. I'm always at your service my lady."

Ladybug rolled her eyes, and she saw what she thought was a faint outline of a huge smile spread across his face. "Set a course for where, may I ask?"

With that, Chat immediately froze in his tracks, and Ladybug burst into laughter.

"Uh, right. Guess I hadn't really figured that part out yet. Well, where may I ask, _am_ I headed?"

Ladybug sent her coordinates to Chat, shaking her head, still chuckling at the boy.

"Purrfect. Be there in a jiffy!" and with that, Chat hung up, so that he could use his baton to make the journey faster, Ladybug assumed. She was actually really looking forward to seeing Chat's face he really was one of her best friends, and she wanted to share her excitement with him. She was staring over the skyline when she saw a black shadow soaring over the rooftops, getting closer and closer, until the black cat had landed on her building and sat down beside her, his legs hanging over the rafters, dangling limply. He put his arms behind him, leaning back, catching his breath, as he turned toward his friend with a huge smile.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?" he asked, obviously tickled pink at the fact that they were meeting socially for two nights in a row.

"Can't you just smile, be grateful and enjoy the company?" replied Ladybug, shoving Chat with her shoulder playfully.

"My my, someone's feisty. I was just curious!"

"Yea, well curiosity killed the cat."

"Woah, was that a threat?" Chat gasped, feigning shock.

"I don't know, you tell me." Wow, she certainly was a bit feisty. The confidence from her time with Adrian was really starting to soak in.

"I'm going to say no, but only because _I_ know that _you_ know that you would miss be terribly if I were gone," Chat said, wiggling his eyebrows at Ladybug, causing her to dissolve into a fit of giggles. She really couldn't take anything he did seriously.

"You're right, I don't think I'd survive a hot minute without you around. Who would tell me terrible puns day in and day out?" Ladybug replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice, but a genuine sincerity to the comment. She really wouldn't be able to survive without having Chat Noir in her life. What would happen if he found out about her crush on Adrian? Would he actually be hurt, or be happy for her? She could never tell where his feelings for her actually lied.

"Ha!" Chat exclaimed, "I knew you liked my puns!"

"Who said I didn't?" Ladybug replied, mimicking Chat's feigned shock from earlier.

"Just someone I was talking to earlier today. Implied that you only put up with them."

"You were talking with someone about me today?" This all sounded familiar but Ladybug couldn't place her finger on why.

"Oh you know. I always find an excuse to ask what people think about my lady."

"What else did this person say?" Ladybug asked, genuinely interested. Not everyday she could find out what people thought about her.

"Well, she had said that she's glad Paris has you around, and she's not alone on that front. I'm also glad of that fact. Everyday." Chat looked into Ladybug's eyes with a genuine sincerity, trying to let her know just how much he actually cared about her without having to say it out loud. However, this went completely over Ladybug's head. Her mind was frozen in shock.

" _Glad Paris has her around. That was me. I was the one who said I was glad Paris has me around. I also said that Ladybug only put up with Chat's puns. It was all me. How would chat know any of that? Was he eavesdropping?_ " Ladybug's mind was racing a mile a minute, trying to understand what she was hearing. Chat couldn't possibly be Adrian. There was just no way. _"I mean, anyone could have also said those things to anyone, they're not uncommon things to say. And Adrian and Chat are nothing alike."_ Ladybug sighed, trying to calm herself down. But now that she had seen it, it was hard to un-see. " _Okay, calm down Marinette. You're jumping to conclusions. Test your theory. See what happens._ "

"Chat, what else did she say?" Ladybug pressed. Chat looked back, a bit confused.

"What does it matter? She thought the world of you, that's all that matters."

"No, specifically, did she say anything else?" Ladybug sat there, the anticipation tying a knot in her stomach.

"Um, yea. Yea she did, now that you mention it. Um, I didn't wanna tell you this part because I thought it might be awkward..." said Chat Noir, seizing an opportunity, "But she said that she thinks that Ladybug has a thing for Chat Noir. Isn't that something?" He laughed, and awaited her reply anxiously.

Ladybug let out the biggest sigh of relief. She hadn't said _any_ of that. _"Of course Adrian isn't Chat Noir."_ she thought, _"What was I thinking? WHY was I even thinking that?"_ With that, she thought back to what Chat just said. Wait. A thing? For Chat? Could that be why she had been looking for the similarities between him and Adrian?

Of course not. That would be ridiculous.

She looked up at Chat, who just sat there, patiently awaiting a response. Ladybug tried to read his face, and saw the usual smug, charming smile, but what was that underneath it? Nerves? Did Chat _like_ her? Everything was so confusing.

"She really said that?" Ladybug replied, "What would even make her think that?" She wondered if this girl had seen something between them that she hadn't picked up on yet herself, but should have. As soon as she had said it, she watched Chat visibly dishearten, right before her eyes.

"Yea, so stupid, right? Why would anyone think that?" Chat was brokenhearted, and he couldn't even hide it. He looked down into the street below them, wondering how far of a drop it would be if he leapt off now, avoiding the end of this conversation.

"Chat?" Ladybug said, trying to get her friend's attention. She could tell he was hurt. "Chat, please, look at me," she said, turning her friend's face towards her with her left hand, and keeping it there, pressed against his face. Chat looked up, and into Ladybug's eyes. She was playing mind games with this boy like no other. They sat there, staring at each other, the air between them so full of electricity that it could've supplied the entire city of Paris with light for a year. Ladybug blushed and looked down, taking her hand down from Chat's face. Chat took this chance to grab her hand and hold it between his, causing Ladybug to look back up into his eyes. She finally broke the silence, and said:

"Um, well, I guess I could see how some people might see it. We do spend an awful lot of time together, don't we?"

"Yea, we certainly do," Chat replied. He took his right hand, the one farthest from Ladybug, and intertwined his fingers with the hand he was holding. With that, Ladybug slid herself so that they were siting right next to each other and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I like our time together," she said, squeezing his hand affectionately. Chat took his other arm out from between them and put it around Ladybug's shoulders, pulling her in closer and putting his head on hers, closing his eyes to take it all in.

"I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world," he replied. Ladybug nuzzled into Chat Noir, taking in his heat.

She felt so comfortable there in that moment; it felt so natural. Yet, despite her happiness, she couldn't help but feel more confused than ever. Wasn't her reason for coming out here tonight to calm herself down after an amazing night of progress with Adrian? Now she was here on a rooftop in Paris, snuggling Chat? Is that what this was? Or was this just friendly? Her and Chat were super close, and this wouldn't have been odd in anyway for their relationship if Ladybug wasn't already conflicted about her emotions. Could it be that she had a crush on two guys? At the same time? They were so different, and yet, both so similar in many ways, that she could see why she could fall for both of them, but she didn't know. Didn't know if this was real or just in the heat of the moment. She needed to sort out her emotions, and fast.

"Chat?" she asked, without moving,

"Mhm?" he replied with a contented hum.

"Could we just stay like this forever? Not have to worry about anything else but right here, right now. Just you and me. Could we do that?"

"Ladybug," Chat said said with the most satisfied of sighs, "you have no idea how much I would love that." He then scrunched his face and took his head off of hers, looking down at her, realizing something was off. "Is something bothering you?"

Ladybug also scrunched up her face at that comment, trying to come up with a response to that extremely loaded question. She decided it was easiest not to deal with it. Right now she was in a great place with two amazing boys. Why mess it up?

"No, I just don't ever want to leave this moment," Ladybug said towards the night instead of towards her Chat. She couldn't look him in the eyes and say it, because she knew he wouldn't believe her. Before he could say anything, she nuzzled closer into him and sighed. She was genuinely happy in this moment. Confused, but happy. So, she wasn't really lying. She really didn't ever want to leave and have to deal with the confusion.

Chat looked down at his lady, trying to figure out what was going on in her head. " _Why is it that I always try to figure out the confusing ones?_ " he thought to himself, looking down at the predicament he was in. What on earth was she thinking? Was this entirely platonic or something more? However much he wanted the answers to all of these questions, the last thing he was going to do was ruin this moment. So, instead of asking the questions he really wanted to ask, he instead asked:

"You know that I'll always be here, right my lady? I'll always be here for you, no matter what."

Ladybug grabbed her free arm and wrapped it around Chat, tracing designs on his side with her finger, his remark soothing her a little. No matter what, he would be there for her. She truly believed it too. So with that, she replied: "I know Chat. And I you."

"I know too," he replied, resting his head back onto hers, " _and I love you,_ " he thought to himself as he sat there, all of his dreams coming true. _"I love you so much Ladybug. One day, I'll tell you, but for tonight, being here is enough."_ He smiled off into the beautiful Parisian skyline, the happiest cat in the world.


	6. Chapter 6

Eventually, Ladybug and Chat Noir needed to go home and sleep, but neither of them had really wanted to part ways. Finally, after a fair amount of time had passed, Ladybug's earrings signalled that she needed to be on her way.

"I'm sorry Chat, I have to go," she said, as he was obviously slightly upset that she needed to leave.

"Yea, of course, I understand," he said, longing in his voice. Just as the both of them had gotten up, and Ladybug was about to reach out her yo-yo and swing home, she felt his hand on her arm, stopping her action.

"Wait," he interjected, causing her to turn around and look at him, "could- I mean I know you shouldn't but…" he stuttered, not quite getting the words out. "Would it really be so bad if you stayed?"

"Chat, you know we can't-"

"I know, I know, we can't know each other's real identity, nobody can, but…" he trailed off, obviously longing for more.

"But what?" Ladybug had had this conversation many a time already, without ever asking this question. What did her identity behind the mask matter? He would only be disappointed if he knew the truth. Marinette wasn't exciting, brave, or graceful; she wasn't what he wanted.

"I just – we're partners! I should know, _we_ should know who each other really are. You can trust me, and I can trust you too!" He looked at her, desperation showing through his eyes.

"Some things are better left unknown," Ladybug replied, as she extended her yo-yo out and linked onto a nearby building. Then, before Chat could reply, she was off into the night. She felt her eyes watering, maybe from the wind, or maybe for another reason entirely. She couldn't tell, or rather, wouldn't let herself think about it long enough to figure it out.

Just as she came through her bedroom window, her transformation gave out, and she collapsed onto her bed. She shimmied under her covers, no pyjamas, and fell asleep right away, only stopping to check to see if her alarm was set before passing out entirely. The only thing keeping her from breaking down entirely was the desperate thought that Adrian had spent all this time with her this weekend, and would spend more time with her tomorrow, no mask. Maybe, just maybe, he had actually enjoyed their time just as much as she had. With that thought desperately in her mind, she was out like a light.

..

Adrian woke up to his alarm beeping ferociously in his ear. He quickly pressed the snooze button without a second thought, which was odd for Adrian, given the fact that he rarely ever hit snooze. The only reason his did now was because of his late night with Ladybug; he had known that he needed to be up no later than 9 to get to the library for 10, so why on earth had he stayed out so late with Ladybug yet again? Wait, dumb question. The answer to that was easy, as he would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant another night like the one he had had last night. He couldn't help but feel that their moment on the rooftop was more than just a friendly gesture, and his heart was pounding all over again. Ladybug could actually be falling for him just as much as he had fallen for her, and he was beyond overjoyed at the thought. How would he focus today with Marinette?

" _Marinette. Shoot. I need to go to the library._ " Adrian let out an unimpressed groan and stretched himself out in his bed, trying to wake up. He finally rolled himself out of bed and walked up to his closet, trying to figure out what to wear. He would normally just pull the first thing he saw out of his cupboard, knowing that it would look nice given his expensive options, but today he felt like he needed to do more than that. Why that was, he wasn't quite sure, but the thought of his hanging around Marinette all day gave him the gut instinct to try a little bit harder. How peculiar. He finally decided on his outfit, got ready, and headed off to the library.

When he arrived, Marinette was sitting at a table in the sunlight. The beams hit her, and the light traveled through the hair around her head, giving her a heavenly glow as she looked down at her desk, reading the book in front of her. He couldn't help but notice how lovely she looked right in that moment. A weird thing to think, this was Marinette after all, so his feelings surprised him. However, the thought made him warm inside, and so he decided to simply roll with it; noticing beauty and feeling happy wasn't a crime after all.

As he walked closer, he saw that she wasn't really reading at all, and was a bit perplexed to see that Marinette looked like she was talking to someone, or something in her bag. However, as soon as he got close enough to take a better look, Marinette closed her purse and looked up, flushed.

"Hi Adrian! Uh, will this table do? I figured I'd get us a seat since I hadn't seen you yet."

"Yea, this will do perfectly." He put his bag down beside the seat and sat down across from Marinette, who was now proceeding to get out her books from her backpack.

"So, Marinette said, her hands clasped in front of her and resting on the table, "let's get started, shall we?"

..

Two hours later, their essays were completed. Adrian was surprised by how much easier writing this essay had been with Marinette's help. Of course he had known that Marinette's help was going to make his essay way better than if he had written it on his own, but he hadn't realized just how much. Adrian sat back in his chair, the sunlight still beaming through the windows and giving Adrian a pleasant warmth. He looked across the table at this girl that he hadn't really known just a little while ago. Sure they had been friends, but not like this. It's like Marinette had finally let her guard down around him, and Adrian relished this, because he finally felt he was getting to know the real Marinette that had fascinated him so much. Plus, he couldn't help but feel a little bit smug, because he was right in trying to reach out to her, despite what seemed like her hesitations before. Today proved just how well they worked together. " _We would make a good team,_ " he thought to himself, thinking back on the past two hours. It was like every thought he had, she had been able to finish it for him in the exact way that he had needed, but had not known how to finish for himself. " _Plus_ ," he thought, " _I think I was able to do the same for her_." It was true, he had also been able to get in her head and had known what she had needed as well. Adrian felt like they had been working together for, well, what felt like practically forever. It didn't feel like this was the first time they had worked in tandem. _"But it was, that's the weird part_." Maybe it was just that they were destined to be friends? This entire situation baffled Adrian, and just made him want to figure out Marinette even more. The weirdest part about his time with Marinette was that he hadn't thought about Ladybug in two whole hours. Adrian's mind was reeling, and he felt torn, and yet didn't quite understand why. Not yet anyway. Just then, he heard Marinette's stomach growl loudly from under the table. She looked up at him, eyes wide and face red.

"Uh, guess I'm a little hungry," she said, embarrassed.

"You, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, have one of the loudest stomachs I have every come across," Adrian said with a smile. Did he find it… cute? Marinette reddened even further. "Hey, it's not a bad thing. Just makes it easier for me to be able to tell when I need to take you out for a lunch break. My treat."

Marinette didn't know what to say. "Um, that's … well… thank you, but not necessary at all. I can pay for my own food."

"Nonsense, my essay would be in shambles if it wasn't for you. Please. Consider this my thanks," Adrian replied with a genuine smile.

"Oh, well, I mean…" Adrian grabbed Marinette's hand and had pulled her up before she could object any further. He grabbed her books from the table in one hand and kept ahold of her hand with the other, and pulled her out of the library. Marinette quickly grabbed Tikki, her heart racing, and let herself be dragged toward the door.

"So, I know this really great sushi place just around the corner from here, what do you think? Do you like sushi?" Adrian asked as they walked out of the library and toward what Marinette assumed was the direction of the sushi place. But she couldn't focus on the question, because all of her attention was narrowed in on her hand. Her hand, that was still in Adrian's as they walked down the street. She was panicking. Why was he holding her hand? He could have let go any time now, had he forgotten he was holding it?

"Uh," Marinette squeaked, "yea, sushi sounds great."

"Perfect," Adrian replied, smiling his charming, perfect smile in her direction. Marinette swooned. How was she going to survive lunch? Just then, Adrian received a buzz. His other hand still firmly keeping ahold of Marinette's books, he had to let go of her hand to check his phone. Despite being horribly disappointed that he had let go, Marinette also felt much calmer having her hand back, and horribly self-aware of it dangling by her side. Adrian slid his phone back into his pocket. His hand went down to his side, and hung there aimlessly, his knuckles grazing the back of Marinette's hand occasionally as their arms swung. Finally, they arrived at the restaurant and Adrian opened the door for Marinette, leading her into a quaint little sushi shop.

"Hello and welcome," greeted one of the servers, "please feel free to take a seat wherever you please, and a server will be with you shortly."

Adrian walked over to a seat beside the window, grabbing Marinette's chair for her.

"Uh, thank you..." Marinette said awkwardly as she took her seat. She'd never had anyone be so chivalrous towards her and didn't quite know how to react.

"Sorry, I don't mean to make it awkward, my mum just raised me to be courteous," Adrian replied, sensing Marinette's discomfort.

"No, please, don't apologize. It's… sweet," Marinette replied with a blush. The hand holding, the door, the chair, all of these things were confusing Marinette to no end. This was one strange lunch. "Your mum sounds like she knows her manners. Are you two close?"

"Uh, I mean, I don't see her a lot anymore..." Adrian replied, trailing off.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay," Adrian cutting her off, keen to change the subject. "So, Miss Cheng, your fans are dying to know: you're obviously really smart, and quite the video game connoisseur. Your parents own a bakery and you're obviously too nice for your own good giving that you agreed to help the lost cause, to complete his essay. Given all of this, I need to know… have I been spending time with a robot all weekend? That's the only explanation for how perfect your life seems. I promise to never tell another soul, scout's honour. You can trust me."

Marinette burst into laughter, embarrassed by the flattery. "God no, far from it. My life is in no way perfect. But, I do have to admit, it's not too shabby." Marinette couldn't help but notice Adrian's Chat-like goofiness. And that line about trusting him... had Chat not said those exact words to her last night?

"Well, please, tell me more. I want to learn all about you," Adrian replied. Something about Marinette was nagging at Adrian too, like she was more than she appeared, and Adrian needed to know what.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Marinette asked, just as a waitress came over to their table.

"Good afternoon you two lovebirds, ready to order?"

Marinette turned bright red and gapped at the waitress, unable to look at Adrian, despite wanting nothing more than to see how he would react to this. Marinette tried to look at him out of the corner of her eye. She thought that his face looked sort of red. She also noticed that he was… smiling? Adrian coughed and the grin wiped away. " _What on earth could that mean?_ " Marinette though to herself as her heart pounded a thousand miles a minute.

Then, without acknowledging anything strange about the remark, Adrian placed his order. Marinette also fumbled out some string of words, hoping that they made a comprehensible lunch order, as she was unable to think properly anymore. " _Yep, no way am I making it out of this lunch alive. I am going to die of a heart attack_." Finally, after the waitress had gone back into the kitchen and was out of her sight, Marinette turned her attention back to the boy sitting across the table from her.

Adrian drummed his fingers nervously. That waitress had thought that they were a couple, and Adrian had kind of liked it. His heart fluttered. He was nervous as hell and very, very conflicted. He loved Ladybug, more than anything, and he knew that his feelings for her hadn't changed; especially not after their night together, which had been a breakthrough. But, then, if that night was so wonderful, why was he even thinking about this whole "lovebirds" things with Marinette? " _Doesn't_ matter," he thought, " _because I am in love with Ladybug, no question_." But, the more important point was that she didn't seem to feel the same way. Maybe that was why he was thinking more and more about Marinette. Could he really be in love with Ladybug and feel something with Marinette also? Were these feelings real, or just him longing for something with Ladybug and looking for anything to fill the cracks? If his feelings were real, that meant that he liked two different women at the same time, and Adrian didn't like that one bit. It made him feel slimy. Yet, sitting here with Marinette… everything felt right. He knew that he liked her, in some way. _"Lovebirds…_ " he thought to himself, " _I mean, would I want to be lovebirds with Marinette?_ " Ugh, love was so confusing.

"Earth to Adrian," Marinette said, breaking Adrian out of his own head, "are you okay?"

Adrian looked at Marinette, more confused than ever, and yet, also finally at a certain amount of peace. "So, weren't you telling me about yourself?" he said, expertly deflecting the question. " _I am in no way okay Marinette, but to hell with it. Who says I can't flirt with both of you? I don't have to be okay. I like you Marinette, and everyone knows that that'll make a person a little crazy._ " With that thought, Adrian knew that things were about to get very interesting in his love life, and definitely wouldn't be simple for quite some time.


	7. Chapter 7

Marinette and Adrian had been talking when Adrian excused himself to use the washroom, leaving Marinette alone with her thoughts, which only led to panic. So, to avoid a total breakdown, Marinette turned to her purse, with her back to the restaurant, and started talking to Tikki.

"Tikki," Marinette whispered, the frustration clear in her voice, "what am I doing here? What is this supposed to be? I only just started to be able to talk to him, and I swear I'm about to fall back into old ways at the thought of this being a date. I don't think I'd be able to speak, let alone eat."

"Everything will be just fine Marinette," Tikki replied with a hint of laughter, "either way, Adrian wants to be here with you right now, is that not enough?"

Marinette suddenly panicked, "Oh no Tikki what if he doesn't? What if this is all some cruel prank? Oh no oh no, I should just leave before I find out I'm being punk'd or something"

Tikki sighed through her laughter. Just as she was about to reply, Marinette saw Adrian's reflection on the window in front of her and snapped her purse shut, turning to face the table again before Adrian noticed anything peculiar.

"Sorry about that," Adrian said as he sat back down in his seat, "where were we?"

Marinette opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, she was cut off by a large bang from the window beside them. Adrian and Marinette whipped their heads to see the tail end of a witch on a broomstick, who had nearly flown straight through the window, but instead had only hit her broomstick against the pane.

" _This has to be the work of a nasty little akuma. I have to stop this_ ," Marinette thought to herself.

"Excuse me," both Adrian and Marinette said in unison, "I'll be right back."

They stared at each other for a moment, thrown off. " _Where on earth is she running off to? She should stay here where it's safe,_ " Adrian thought, perplexed by Marinette even further.

"Uh… bathroom," Marinette said just as Adrian was saying "Uh… gotta call my dad."

With no time left to ponder the strange occurrence, the two ran off in opposite directions. "Tikki!" Marinette said, releasing her little kwami just as she had locked herself into the single person bathroom, "Spots on!" Marinette transformed into Ladybug and opened the window, climbing out into the street and flew herself into the battle. Just as she was arriving at the scene, so was Chat Noir.

"Hey, fancy meeting you here," Chat said, "good timing am I right?"

"Come on Chat, we have some more pressing issues to deal with at the moment," Ladybug replied, pointing in the direction of this witchy akuma, who was going around turning her victims into pumpkins and black cats. Who knew what her motivation was.

"I gotta say," said Chat as they ran over towards the action, "although I like the sentiment of a bunch of black cats running around, Halloween is still a week away. Let's shut this akuma DOWN!" On that note, Chat extended his baton, flinging himself up into the air and grabbing on to the back of the witch's broomstick, throwing off her balance and sending them spiralling to the ground with a large crash.

"Can't that cat keep himself out of trouble for once?" Ladybug sighed to herself as she swung herself over to help her feline friend. The two fought alongside each other, the perfect crime fighting pair as usual, as thought they were reading each other's mind and sensing what was going to happen before it did.

"My lady," Chat said in the midst of the battle, after a particularly unfortunate incident with a pumpkin had led them to both be caught in Ladybug's yoyo, facing each other and trapped, "I think her akuma is in her broomstick." Chat was breathless. Being this close to Ladybug, inches away from kissing her, made his hair stand on end. Ladybug also wasn't moving that quickly, caught in the moment.

" _Those_ _eyes…_ " she thought, looking into the piercing green pair that look down at her, " _I swear, they look so familiar, like I've seen them on someone else…_ "

Chat couldn't help himself. He started to slowly lean into Ladybug, closing his eyes… causing Ladybug to snap herself out of the moment and retract her yoyo, latching it onto the witch's broomstick, causing her to go flying. Chat went for the kiss just as soon as Ladybug was gone. " _Focus Chat! Come on, you can make googly eyes later!_ " He swung out after her, distracting the witch, allowing Ladybug to grab the broomstick and skid off with it, snapping its handle in half. The witch went back to being a normal citizen, a very quick battle to say the least.

"Wow, we didn't even need your lucky charm today princess," Chat said, helping her to comfort the slightly distraught old woman and give her her broomstick back.

"Yea, we were really working well for this one. We're a good team Chat," Ladybug said with a smile. Chat's heart fluttered. "Come on," she said, grabbing his hand, forcing the slightly frozen Chat out of his own head, "we better get out of here. I don't know about you, but I really have to get back."

" _Oh,_ " Chat thought with disappointment, " _We could have had time together, no fear of unveiling, but she has to go. Wait. I have to go too! Marinette is waiting on me."_

"Shoot, me too," Chat said. Thinking on his feet, he said, "I've got a hot date to get back to."

"What?" Ladybug was shocked. "A date? You were on a date?"

"Yea," Chat said, slightly embarrassed by the lie, "you don't know everything about what I do. I have a whole other life you know." Chat knew that none of this was true, and that his lunch with Marinette wasn't a date (was it? No of course not) and yet he said it anyway. He was hoping to make Ladybug jealous. He knew this, and he felt awful. He shouldn't use Marinette that way, as some prop to make another woman jealous. What was he thinking?

"Oh… right. I mean of course. You have a life to live. I get it." Ladybug _did_ feel kind of jealous, but had no idea why. What did it matter what Chat did in the rest of his time? She didn't care about him like that. She'd just always thought that maybe, he might like her a bit more than that. But obviously not if he was out on dates with other girls. Her jealousy got the better of her. "I mean actually, it's fine, because I have a boy to get back to myself."

"Wait. Hold up," Chat said with shock. No no no no no way. Ladybug did not have a boyfriend. There was no way. Chat was panicking. He never should have said that stupid lie, he'd heard too much and he was regretting everything immediately. "You're telling me that you have a boyfriend? Ladybug, how could you have not told me. I thought we were partners. I should know these things."

"I never said I had a boyfriend, I said I had to get back to a boy," Ladybug said, a slight embarrassment reddening her cheeks. It wasn't a lie; she _was_ going back to a boy. Just... a boy who didn't remotely think of her in that way.

"Well then," Chat said, hardening, "better let you get back to him." Adrian was angry with Ladybug for letting him think that he ever stood a remote chance and even more upset with himself for lying his way into getting the confession. So, he hurried away, not looking back.

..

Ladybug watched as Chat hurried off, not able to catch him before he left. Maybe she shouldn't have led him to believe that she was going off to some hot boy toy, but he had started it! Why was he so upset anyway, he actually _had_ another girl; he didn't need her. Ladybug was frustrated and jealous, and hated that she was more than anything. Back at that sushi restaurant was Adrian Agreste, the boy she actually cared about, and yet she was so fixated on this girl Chat was seeing. Exasperated, she flung her yoyo out, hoping to get back to the restaurant before Adrian finished his phone call, knowing how unlikely that would be, but really hoping that she wouldn't have to explain why she had been in the washroom for what could have been easily 45 minutes. As she swung, she couldn't help but imagine the girl chat would be with. " _Probably some blonde stuck up princess, like Chloe. She would be able to get a guy like Chat Noir._ " Ladybug fumed all the way back until finally she arrived back at the restaurant, de-transformed, and shimmied back into the bathroom through the window. She gave herself a quick once over in the mirror, and prayed that Adrian wouldn't be sitting waiting for her when she got back in. He wasn't. Thank god. So, she sat herself back down in her seat and waited for him to get back, her mind wandering to Chat Noir and his date.

Adrian entered the restaurant, straightened himself out, and saw Marinette sitting at the table, waiting for him. "I am so so sorry about that, my dad really likes to jabber on," Adrian said feebly as he sat back down in his seat. Marinette gave him a slight smile in return. "Is something the matter?" he asked, sensing that something was off. Marinette had lost that beam that she'd been radiating all morning.

"Huh? Oh, yea, everything's fine," she replied, lost in her thoughts, and lost at the idea of Chat being out with some other girl. She didn't understand. It was Adrian that she cared about, and Adrian that she liked. Why was this bothering her so much? Adrian however, could sense that this statement of hers was a platitude, and didn't believe her for a moment. She wasn't fine, and Adrian felt sick at the thought.

Ladybug had another man, that much was clear, but here was Marinette sitting right in front of him. She had been here, and he had run off to spend time with Ladybug, who wasn't even remotely interested in him. He genuinely cared that Marinette was upset, and feared that it was because he'd blown off their lunch.

"Look, I'm really sorry for running off like that, my dad can just be so-"

"Really, it's okay," Marinette said, interrupting him and placing her hand on his. They were both shocked by the action. She cleared her throat and took her hand back. "I'm not upset with you. I was actually… on the phone as well, with Alya. Apparently there was an akuma attack, so she was giving me live updates. I was fine." " _Nice cover!_ " Marinette internally pattered herself on the back for that one. Adrian stared at her, still a little shocked at the previous gesture.

"Marinette, I-"

"You two!" the server interrupted, coming up to their table. "Finally back, are you? Took you long enough," she winked at both of them who stared back at her, understanding her insinuation.

"Uh no we weren't-"

"No miss, you don't-"

"Kidding! Kidding. No need to get all defensive," the waitress laughed, "But actually, you were gone so long that your food has been sitting there ready for 20 minutes. Would you still like it or…?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving," Adrian said towards Marinette, who gave back a nod of agreement. "Yea, that would be great actually," Adrian replied to the waitress, smiling an apologetic smile.

"You, young lady, are one lucky little cookie, you know that?" the waitress said in Marinette's direction, and went off to find their food. Marinette blushed and her hair fell in her face. Adrian reached over and tucked her bangs behind her ear, causing her to lift her chin up at Adrian. They stayed like that, his hand just barely touching her face, while they stared at each other, eyes wide.

"Here ya go!" the waitress said, placing their food down in front of them on the table, "Enjoy you two."

Adrian whipped his hand back down to his chopsticks, the two of them darting their heads down and avoiding eye contact. Marinette's stomach was in knots and could barely get her food down. Adrian finally looked back up at this girl across the table from him and smiled. They finished their lunches, both absolutely ravenous from their fight, and Adrian picked up the cheque.

"Really Adrian, you don't have to do that."

"I already told you Marinette, my treat as a thank you."

"Fine," Marinette replied, "but I don't have to like it."

"You are so stubborn; you know that?" Adrian said with a chuckle as the waitress smiled and asked Adrian if he wanted his receipt, still totally smitten with this adorable little couple in front of her.

"Yes, I have been told that a couple of times," Marinette replied, thinking back to the numerous times Chat had said that exact phrase in her direction. The thought made her smile. Ugh, she was thinking about Chat, again. She needed to snap out of it.

"Hey, what are your plans for the rest of the evening?" Adrian asked. Well, that certainly snapped Marinette to attention.

"Uh, why do you ask?" Marinette replied, not sure whether to lie and say she was doing something to seem interesting because he was just making small talk, or whether to say she was free and have him invite her out.

"Well, I just, I thought that maybe you'd like to play some more Ultimate Mecha Strike III at my place? Or yours I mean I don't care where we play… Just, you know, I need some practice obviously if I'm ever going to stand a chance at beating you." Marinette screamed internally.

"Yea, I'd love to," she replied with a smile, over the moon. So Adrian _did_ want to spend time with her for her, not just to get some help with a stupid essay. She was elated. "If you're having trouble with your dad, we could always go back to my place…"

Adrian looked visibly relieved. "Lead the way," he said, as he opened the door out of the restaurant for her, and Marinette led the boy of her dreams towards her house.


	8. Chapter 8

Marinette opened the door to the bakery and was greeted by her mother standing behind the counter.

"Hi sweetie, how did the essay go?" she said, her eyes then darting to Adrian who stood behind Marinette, "Oh, hello Adrian. I didn't realize it was you Mari was working on the essay with." She immediately perked up, knowing the tension Marinette had with this young man – he had been over once before after all.

"Hi mum, it was good, we're done, we're going to go play video games now okay bye," Marinette spit out quickly, dragging Adrian behind her and up towards her bedroom.

"Uh, hi Ms. Cheng, nice seeing you again!" Adrian said as he was dragged away. Sabine smiled to herself and started humming as she returned to counting the day's earnings, very aware what was going on between those two.

Marinette dragged Adrian into her room and shut the trap door quickly, turned, and smiled at this boy, alone in her room. "So… Mecha Strike?"

"Sounds like a plan. You are so going down," Adrian teased.

"In your dreams," Marinette quipped back, turning on her computer so that they could sit down and play. They got into the swing of things once they got playing, all of the awkwardness from earlier melting away as they laughed and joked around. Finally, Sabine knocked on the trapdoor and poked her head through to her daughter's room.

"Sorry to interrupt, I'm just wondering if Adrian will be joining us for dinner?"

Marinette looked at her mother, then at Adrian sitting beside her. "Uh… well… Would you like to stay for dinner Adrian? I totally understand if you have somewhere-"

"I'd love to," Adrian said back, causing smiles to spread across both of their faces, "I mean, that is, if it's not too much trouble," Adrian said in Sabine's direction.

"Of course Adrian, you're always welcome here. Is chicken alright?"

"Chicken sounds amazing, thank you Ms. Cheng."

"Please," Sabine replied, "call me Sabine."

"Uh, okay then… Sabine."

With that, Sabine smiled and closed the door, leaving the two to go back to their game.

"Your mother is really nice," said Adrian while they continued their match.

"Uh, thanks, yea, she really is," Marinette replied back, sneaking a glance in his direction, leaving her character defenseless long enough for Adrian to sneak in a fatal blow. "Hey no fair, I wasn't looking!"

"And whose fault is that?" Adrian replied, turning to face Marinette. The air between them was filled with electricity.

"Well I mean I guess…" Marinette trailed off as the two teenagers stared at each other, the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"MARI, DINNER!" Marinette's father bellowed, breaking them out of the moment. Marinette blushed and Adrian cleared his throat, and the two of them made their way downstairs for dinner.

The family sat down and started their meal, and Adrian was blown away. "So you mean to tell me," he started towards Marinette, "that you eat together every single night?"

"Yep," Marinette replied, a bit confused by his question. Of course they did, why wouldn't they?

"Wow, I can't even imagine eating with others for every single meal."

"You mean you and your dad don't eat together?" Marinette queried.

"Uh, no, not ever. He's… busy."

"Oh, I'm sorry… He doesn't know what he's missing." She then reached down, and with all of the confidence she had, she squeezed his hand that sat bellow the table on his arm rest.

Adrian looked down, and then up at Marinette and gave her a smile. "Thanks, really." Marinette smiled back.

"So Adrian," Tom started, as Sabine smiled encouragingly and Marinette groaned a little, fearing what her father was going to say next, "how goes the whole, what is it you do again? Model? How goes the whole modeling gig. Still going strong?"

"Yes sir, I still model for my father every now and again."

"And are you really attached to that as a career? What I mean is that say, if, in the future, you needed to help run a family business like, oh, I don't know, a bakery -" Marinette kicked her father under the table, causing him to yelp out loudly.

"Sorry father, is there a problem?" Marinette started back with a warning tone as Tom laughed to himself at the mischief he was causing and Sabine clicked her tongue at him, but smiled nonetheless.

"No no, no issues here," Tom replied, grinning madly.

"Um well no sir, to uh, answer your question, I'm not really attached to the modeling career. I mostly do it to help my father," replied Adrian, confused by the events that had just occurred.

"So what do you enjoy then?" prodded Sabine, hoping to learn a little something about this young suitor.

"Uh, well, I don't really actually have a lot of time to do what I like. I enjoy acting? I did a bit of that for a classmate's movie and that was fun. But other than that, I generally am too busy with things my father has signed me up for, like modeling work and fencing lessons, to be able to do anything else." " _That_ ," he thought, _"and saving the world day in and day out_."

"Acting you say! Marinette is quite interested in fashion design; wouldn't it be something if she could design you a costume for a school show!" Sabine replied back with vigor.

"Um I'm sure that would be-"

"Mum," Marinette interrupted Adrian, sending a look in her mother's direction, "he hasn't even signed up for a show, maybe we could keep the planning to a minimum?"

"Oh alright alright, fine," Sabine replied with a knowing smile, and started to clear the table. Tom got up to help, wash the dishes, leaving Adrian and Marinette momentarily alone.

"I am so so sorry about all that," Marinette said, thoroughly embarrassed, "my parents can be a whole lot sometimes."

"It's okay, really. I actually find it really nice. They care about you, I can tell. Plus, nobody has ever bothered to ask me what I enjoy doing. It was… thoughtful." Adrian smiled at Marinette, growing more and more enraptured. No wonder she was so amazing. " _Look at her family; they really love her."_ Marinette smiled, grateful that he didn't totally hate her family and her by proxy. "I should probably get going. My dad might have a fit if I don't come home soon."

"Ah, right, of course," Mari replied, a bit disappointed he had to leave so soon. "I'll walk you to the door."

The two walked down to the front of the bakery so Adrian could leave, leaving the two of them alone in the dim front entryway.

"Thank for having me over Marinette. This was really nice," Adrian said with a smile.

"Yea," Marinette agreed, "it really was." Marinette mustered up every bit of courage she could get, and finally managed to say, "We should… do it again sometime?"

Adrian's grinned widened even further. "Yea, I would like that." The two of them, subconsciously, had been moving closer and closer together, until they realized that they were only inches apart. Marinette looked up at Adrian and into his emerald green eyes. He stared back at her, his pulse racing a thousand miles a minute. He started to close the gap between them, his face moving closer to hers. Marinette's eyelids started to flutter to a close, anticipating what was about to happen. His lips were an inch from hers when they heard a scream-

"Help me! Somebody, anybody!"

Their heads bolted away from each other and towards the commotion outside.

"I have to go-", "You should go-" they both spoke at the same time, only partially due to the commotion outside, their faces reddening.

"Yea, right, okay, bye Marinette" Adrian said in a hurry, flustered and in a hurry to transform. He ran around the corner and Marinette leaned against the window and let out the largest groan of her life. Tikki butted out from Marinette's purse and flew out in front of Marinette's face.

"Oh Tikki, when they say crime never rests, they really aren't kidding, are they?"

"Come on Marinette, we can talk about this later!" Tikki replied, obviously anxious about the screams they heard outside.

"Oh you're right, like always. Tikki, Transforme-moi!" In a flash, Marinette was now Ladybug, and flying out the door to look for the cause of the commotion. Just as she showed up to the scene, so did Chat Noir. She hadn't forgotten their encounter from earlier, and the tension still ran high.

"Ladybug," he said courtly, obviously still quite hurt over their earlier encounter, but less so.

"Chat," she replied, just as courtly. " _I'm sure he wouldn't be this court with his dumb girlfriend,"_ she thought to herself, the guilt blooming as soon as she did. After what almost happened with Adrian just now, she shouldn't care who Chat hangs out with. Nor should she have ever. What does it matter? They're just friends.

"Shall we get to it?" Chat asked, leaping away from Ladybug and toward the action. " _The only good thing about this stupid Akuma attack is that it interrupted her time with her lousy boyfriend,_ " Chat thought to himself as her ran. He saw Ladybug catch up to him, and scowled, moving faster, trying to outrun her. He really shouldn't care about who she spent time with, but he couldn't help it. Even with his newfound interest in Marinette, it bothered him not knowing who this guy is. " _He better be good enough for her, that's all I'm saying,_ " he thought, trying to convince himself that that's all he wanted.

The two of them found the source of the scream, a young lady that they both recognized right away: Chloé Bourgeois.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir! Oh I knew you two would come to rescue me!"

"Uh, hi miss," Chat said, "what seems to be the problem here?"

"Oh Chat, you don't have to play coy in front of Ladybug here. We both know we know each other _very_ well, no need to hide it." Chat's face morphed into one of confusion, while Ladybug took a minute to clue into Chloe's accusation. Immediately, she shut down, her face becoming void of emotion. So she had been right in thinking that Chat would fall for a girl like Chloe. Turn out, it _had_ been Chloe.

"Uhh what on earth- Ladybug, look out!" Chat interrupted himself and jumped on Ladybug, bringing her down to the ground just before a large Akumitized villain, in the persona of a Bat, swooped down above her, trying to grab hold of her. Ladybug snarled at Chat, who now was on top of her pinning her down, and pushed him off of her.

"I could have handled that myself," she said and she brushed the dirt off of herself and raced off after the villain.

Chat, expecting at least a thank you, glowered at her back as he yelled "Yea, okay, you're welcome!" He turned to Chloe and said, "run for cover, we'll handle this," before he leaped off after Ladybug. Despite their anger at each other, they worked just as well together as usual, anticipating the other's moves before they even started a blow, and defeated the villain in no time.

"Better go let your girlfriend know she's safe and sound," Ladybug said after the battle was won, and turned to run off. Before she could leave, Chat grabbed her arm.

"Is that what you're mad about now? I'm not dating… that girl," Adrian said, knowing not to use Chloe's name. "I barely even recognize her. I have no idea why she said that. Probably just a little star struck." He flashed Ladybug a cheesy smile in an attempt to make her open back up to him, and Ladybug melted a little in response.

"I'm not mad, you can do whatever you like with whomever your like," Ladybug replied, knowing full well he still had that girl from his date earlier. If it wasn't Chloe, it was someone else. Not that she cared.

"Well, thank you for your permission princess, but you don't have anything to worry about. You're still my one and only." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, knowing he was breaking through. Ladybug let out a small smile and elbowed him in the ribs, causing Chat to let out a loud "OW!" and double over, holding his side in mock pain. She laughed at his overdramatic flair, just as Chat had hoped she would, and he looked back at her, sincerity in his eyes.

"In all seriousness, are we good?" Chat asked, not wanting to hurt his Ladybug, but being kind of happy she cared enough about him to possibly be jealous.

"Of course, why wouldn't we be? I'm sorry, I was in a rotten mood, it had nothing to do with you," Marinette lied. She lied her pants off. It had everything to do with him, but like hell she was going to let him know that. Chat didn't know whether or not to believe her, but decided it wasn't worth it to find out. He didn't want Ladybug mad at him ever again. Chat looked down at his ring and realized he needed to jet before he transformed.

"Hey, no big deal. We all have rough days. But you better leave now if you don't want the whoooole city of Paris to know who ladybug really is." Ladybug yelled a bit, hearing her earrings beep at her and flashed Chat a grateful smile.

"You get home safe now." She was about to dash off when her conscience got the better of her. "Hey Chat?" She said, grabbing his arm before he ran off.

"Yea?" he replied, nervously looking down at his ring.

"I hope your date went well today. Honestly. Any girl would be lucky to have you." She genuinely meant all of it. She wanted Chat to be happy, and she had Adrian to think about. There was no time to let a bit of jealousy get in the way.

Chat looked at her and smiled. Yea, Ladybug would always hold a place in his heart, and he didn't know if he was quite ready to give up on her yet, but when he replied, he replied genuinely. "Thanks, Ladybug, that really means a lot. Truly. But to be honest, I don't know if it was really a date… I do think you two would get along though. She reminds me of you." With that, Chat dashed off into the night, leaving Ladybug to try to figure out what the hell that meant.


	9. Chapter 9

When Marinette got home, she collapsed onto her bed and looked at the ceiling, her feelings racing round like little hyperactive butterflies in her stomach, trying to comprehend what had happened this evening. She felt better, knowing that her and Chat were no longer fighting, but the fact that she had gotten jealous in the first place made her frustrated. Especially when, right before she had gone to fight… Had Adrian almost kissed her? She looked at the clock on her bedside table. It was only 11:30pm… on a Sunday, mind you, but Marinette weighed how likely it was that Alya would be awake anyway. Just as she was about to give up on the notion and try to let sleep consume her – despite how unlikely it was – she got a phone call from none other than Alya herself.

"Wow, amazing timing," Marinette said as she picked up the phone, "I was just about to-"

"Oh my gosh, Marinette, you're never going to believe what happened."

Marinette was wrapped up in her own world, it was true, but Alya almost NEVER got this worked up over something, so she perked up and forgot completely about her own thoughts and went immediately into supportive friend mode.

"What? What happened?"

"Okay, so, it's kind of a long story, but basically I was out at the magazine stand today looking for any new issues featuring photos of Chat Noir or Ladybug when I ran into Nino and he wasn't doing anything because of course Adrian was with you all day working on your essay and I was all by myself all day too because you were with Adrian and so we decided to hang out and go get some ice cream and we realized we actually have a lot in common I mean did you know that his Uncle works for spotted magazine as a photographer and that he gets photos of Ladybug all the time and he said he could get him to send some of the unpublished ones that none of the magazines wanted which is super cool of him to offer and anyway we were hanging out and we were just having such a good time so we didn't even realize how late it had gotten to he walked me home and and and -" Alya stopped momentarily to gasp for air.

"Woah woah woah, Alya, slow down. Deep breaths. You're going to hyperventilate if you're not careful," Marinette said, talking her friend through some basic breathing exercises. "Now, I'm sorry, what happened?"

"Nino and I. We kissed." The phone went silent. Then, all that could be heard was Marinette squealing into the phone in delight.

"No way! Alya you sly DOG! What happened next? Give me ALL the details!" So, Alya filled in Marinette on all the gossip, explaining how it had kind of been an accident, because Alya had been turning away from Nino, to go inside, when he had said her name, causing her to turn around. She had, only to be met by Nino darting down quickly to plant a big one on her, taking her by surprise. He had brought his head back to look at her reaction, and they had looked at each other for approximately one nanosecond before Alya had pulled him back down, kissing him right back this time.

Marinette was ecstatic. This was one pairing that she had been egging on for quite some time now, but hadn't wanted to push the issue for fear of messing it up. Now it appeared, she didn't need to fear that any longer. Alya continued to explain that when they finally came up for air, Nino had a huge smile plastered to his face (as did Alya, Marinette was sure), and had simply said, "wanna do this again sometime?" Alya of course, had agreed instantly to a date on Tuesday, and he had left her on her doorstep. She had then run upstairs to call Marinette.

"And of course, you know the rest from there," Alya added with a giggle. She was obviously over the moon.

"Okay, so I'm obviously helping you get ready Tuesday," Marinette said.

"Well duh," Alya replied. "Wait," she said as though remembering, "you had said this was good timing. Were you gonna call me about something?"

"Oh, yea, right. But in comparison, it's not nearly as interesting."

"Spill the beans or I'll come over there myself and make you do it."

"Alright alright," Marinette said with a chuckle, "well you know how I was hanging out with Adrian all day-"

"Yes yes oh my god yes!" Alya replied with glee. Marinette laughed again.

"You don't even know what I'm going to say!" Marinette sighed.

"It doesn't matter; you were with Adrian so it can only be juicy. Wait, unless something bad happened. Please tell me nothing bad happened."

"Well I would tell you if you'd let me!" Marinette said, laughing at her friend's enthusiasm.

"Alright, I'll be quiet." The line went silent.

Marinette went on to explain what had happened that day, leaving out all of the Ladybug bits of course, until finally, she got to the good part.

"So, I walked him to the front door and... well, I could've sworn he was going to kiss me."

Alya screamed. "I knew it I knew it! Wait, hold the phone. Does that mean he didn't? Why the heck not?!"

"Well we kinda sorta got interrupted. We heard a scream come from outside and then… uh… Adrian ran off. I think to go get help." Marinette thought back to that moment. He had run off in an awful hurry. She knew why she had wanted him gone so quickly – so that she could change into Ladybug – but why had he run off in a flash?

"Wait," Alya interrupted her train of thought, "there was an Akuma attack tonight? That's two in one day! I didn't even know, what with the whole Nino thing."

"You must _really_ like him to be paying him so much attention you miss a Ladybug appearance," Marinette teased.

"Ugh, that's the problem isn't it. He better be worth it!" The two girls laughed. "But actually Mari, that's such amazing news. You're finally making progress!"

"Am I though?" Marinette replied, having doubts.

"Wait, of course you are. What's the matter?" Alya asked, immediately trying to console her friend without even knowing the cause.

"I don't know. I just got to thinking. He did run off in a hurry after he heard the scream. Kind of... too quickly. Do you think he realized what was about to happen and thought that he would regret it? Or maybe he never even meant for it to happen and realized that what I was leaning in for and needed to avoid an awkward encounter. Oh god Alya I can't show my face tomorrow." Marinette muffled this last part into her pillow and she felt a sense of impending doom fall over her.

"Okay, woah, don't jump ahead of yourself. You don't know what he's feeling, and I wasn't there so I can't say I know either. But, from what you've said, I think we can assume he was going to kiss you and is just such a good guy that he didn't stop to think when he heard trouble and shot to action. Further, you don't have much choice about showing your face tomorrow, because tomorrow is the day you're getting judged on your designs, so you better show up!"

Marinette had totally forgotten about the contest with everything that was happening in her life right now. Remembering this now, the knot in her throat only increased in size. "Oh my god, the contest. I have to see Adrian and his Dad judge my work tomorrow."

"Well actually, only Adrian's dad is judging the wo-"

"Alya, how on earth am I going to face him tomorrow without losing all the feeling in my legs and falling over?"

"I believe in you and your coordination abilities. You two are, if nothing else, obviously friends now. So just treat him like a friend. You can do that, right?"

Marinette took a deep breath and tried to breathe in Alya's wisdom and rationality. She could totally do this. "You're right, I'll just treat him like a friend. Thanks Alya."

"What would you do without me?" Alya replied with a self-mocking sense of cockiness.

Marinette smiled. "Surely I wouldn't be able to go on."

"That's what I thought. Now, unless you're still feeling anxious, I'm going to go to bed, because we do in fact have school tomorrow. So goodnight!"

"Yea, that sounds like a good idea. Goodnight Alya."

With that, Marinette hung up the phone and got up to get ready for bed, knowing that tomorrow was sure to be an eventful day.

..

Marinette woke up before her alarm the next day, her anxiety keeping her from sleeping in. With no hope of being able to sleep any longer, Marinette rolled out of bed, and instead put her efforts into trying to make herself look presentable for Adrian and the judging today. She finally got herself ready enough to go downstairs and grab some breakfast. Her father was already downstairs working the cash at the store, and her mum had brought up a croissant for Marinette to eat for breakfast. Marinette grabbed the croissant from her mother's hand, kissed her on the cheek, and went to head out the door. Her mother wished her luck and Marinette went downstairs. She gave her dad a kick hug before she ran out the door, going to be prompt for school for the first time in a week; she needed to start a clean slate after that bout of detention. She had just rounded the block when she saw a familiar face down the street.

"Hey, Marinette!" Nino shouted, as he jogged towards Marinette, a big Nino grin plastered on his face.

"Oh, hey Nino!" Marinette replied.

"Mind if I walk with you?" Nino asked, already following step with her.

"Of course not, the more the merrier. So… how was your weekend?" Marinette asked coyly, knowing very well how his weekend was.

"Uh," Nino said, a slight blush forming on his face, "it was… pretty good if I do say so myself."

"In case you were wondering, I heard Alya had a pretty good weekend as well," Marinette teased, letting Nino know that she knew what happened. Nino let out a chuckle and a bit of a sigh, then smiled.

"I'm really glad to hear that she also enjoyed her weekend… activities." Nino blushed a bit again, a big cheeky grin on his face. "So, although I'm not surprised, I take it this means Alya told you about our… uh… encounter."

"Oh come on Nino, just call it what it was. You and Alya had a hot date and have another one on Tuesday, and yes I know all about it." Marinette grinned at Nino and he elbowed her playfully. Like a brother. Marinette and Nino had always gotten along, their relationship always being platonic (from her side anyway, but Marinette couldn't imagine Nino ever feeling anything more than that for her. Especially now, given his feelings for her friend). So, she didn't mind the prospect of spending more time with Nino.

"Yea, well, that," Nino said. "Anyway, I actually was wondering… do you know what Alya's favourite flower is? I would kind of like to surprise her with them tomorrow."

"Awww Nino that is so sweet. Well, she really likes tulips if I remember correctly. Especially yellow ones." Nino grinned and obviously made a mental note of the remark. They two friends arrived at school joking and laughing, arriving well before the bell. Marinette was happy with herself. She said her goodbyes to Nino and went up to Miss Bustier's class to hand in her essay and calendar before class started. She really wanted to start out this week better. Just as she was going to go up the stairs, she was beat to the staircase.

"Mademoiselle Cheng, I see you've managed to be on time today," Adrian said, turned towards Marinette, but blocking the staircase so she couldn't go up. There was a hint of teasing in his eyes, and a somewhat flirtatious tone, but Marinette couldn't be sure. " _Friend. I can do friends,_ " Marinette thought to herself.

"As are you Monsieur Agreste. What a pleasant surprise," Marinette replied back, teasing him right back.

Adrian gasped in mock horror. Similar to that of a certain cat she knew. Instead of finding the similarities shocking, like she might have before, she simply found it amusing. She was just grateful that Adrian had opened up enough to show this friendlier side of himself.

"Excuse me. I have never been late a day in my life!" Adrian joked back, as Marinette pushed him up the stairs, causing him to try and walk up the stairs backwards, which did not prove to be an easy task.

"Yea, this essay that I'm about to hand in that you should also be handing in really spells out the same story." Adrian somehow managed to stumble his way up the staircase – with a lot of coordination for a simple fashion model, Marinette thought to herself – and Marinette knocked on the teacher's door. She was greeted with an "Entrez!" from the other side of the glass, and she went into the classroom.

"Ah, Marinette, Adrian, I'm glad to see you so early to class. I trust you have your essays?" Miss Bustier commented, and a small grin formed on her face when Adrian and Marinette placed their essays and calendars on her desk. "Thank you. The bell is about to ring, so you might as well take your seats now. Adrian, I believe your father should be showing up any time now to announce the winner of the contest, so I'll nod to you when it's time and you can join me at the front. Does that work with you?"

"That will work out well for me ma'am, thank you," Adrian replied, took his seat in front of Marinette, and she did the same. As Marinette sat in front of Adrian, staring at the back of his head, her nerves went flying through the roof. If she won this contest, Adrian would wear her suit down the runway this Saturday. The time with Adrian would of course be welcome, but more importantly, this would be such an amazing start to her career. So, she sat, earnestly waiting for the bell to ring, signaling the beginning of class, and if she was lucky, the beginning of her future.


End file.
